Charming the Slayer
by APhantasm
Summary: Paige Matthews is assigned to be Buffy and Dawn Summers Whitelighter when they come into their powers.
1. Chapter 1: Welcome to the Hellmouth

**Summary:** Paige Matthews is assigned to be Buffy and Dawn Summers Whitelighter when they come into their powers.

 **Pairing:** Paige/Buffy Dawn/Faith

 **Disclaimer** Buffy is owned by Joss Whedon. Charmed is owned by Time Warner (maybe CBS since they had planned a reboot, I don't know).

 **Author's Note:** Some changes were made to both BTVS and Charmed to line up the timelines I wanted (see my site for the story's timeline) Seasons 1-7 of Charmed were pushed back seven years. Prue, Piper, Phoebe and Paige's birthdates were changed to make the new timeline work. Patty's death happens three years later than it did in canon. Dawn has always been here, she is a year younger than Buffy.

Title is Tentative till either I come up with something better or you all suggest something better.

Special thanks goes out to DaBillmann who's story Darling One gave me the idea to do this one.

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Welcome to the Hellmouth**

Paige Matthews stood at the window of 1635 Revelo Drive staring across the street. With the defeat of the Avatars and Kyle being made a Whitelighter after his death, Paige had been assigned a new charge, two witches who did not even know they were witches or had an active power. In fact one of them had been called as the Slayer.

The Elders had filled Paige in on what the Slayer was, where Sunnydale was. She had found out that there were other kinds of demons than just what she and her sisters fought. That the world was far older than they had believed and that portals existed all across the globe that led to other dimensions, mostly ones filled with demons. And that the Source himself had likely been one of the last, if not the last, of a race of demons known as the Old Ones.

She had watched the house from the time that the Slayer, who she had found out was named Buffy Summers, had been taken to school by mother, Joyce Summers, till now shortly after Buffy and Joyce both had returned home.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy stood in front of her bedroom mirror, agonizing over her fashion statement of the evening. Holding up an outfit that was shockingly scanty, she spoke aloud to her reflection.

"Hi! I'm an enormous slut!"

Dawn, Buffy's fifteen year old sister, laughed as Buffy glared at her.

Buffy replaced the outfit with a second, this one a much plainer version, and took another careful look at herself.

"Hi! Would you like a copy of the _Watchtower?"_

"You used to be good that," Dawn said.

"Yeah, I know," Buffy said. "Which would you pick?" She knew her sister didn't have the same fashion sense she did, but Dawn did have good taste.

Just then their mother, Joyce Summers came into the room. "Are you going out tonight, honey?" she asked Buffy.

"Yeah, Mom. I'm going to a club."

"Will there be boys there?"

Dawn laughed. "No, Mom, she's going to a nun club."

Her mother ignored the mild sarcasm. "Well, just be careful," she told Buffy.

"I will."

"I think we can make it work here," Joyce insisted. "I've got my positive energy flowing. I'm gonna get the gallery on its feet—I may have already found a space."

Both Dawn and Buffy tried to sound enthusiastic. "Great."

"And that school is a very nurturing environment, which is what you both need."

"Mom ..." Buffy and Dawn said together a little embarrassed by the attention their mother was giving them.

"Oh, not too nurturing. I know. You both are sixteen; I read all about the dangers of overnurturing." Joyce hesitated, then added truthfully, "It's hard. New town and all. For me, too. I'm trying to make it work. I'm _going_ to make it work."

"We know," Dawn said.

"You're both are good girls. You two just fell in with the wrong crowd. But that's all behind us now."

"It is," Buffy reassured her. "From now on, Dawn and I are only hanging out with the living. I—I mean, the lively ... people."

Their mother looked relieved. "Okay. You have fun, Buffy. You want the usual, Dawn?"

"Sure, mom," Dawn said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

As Buffy left her house and started walking, Paige decided to test Buffy's Slayer side. See how acute those powers were. She orbed out and back in a half a block behind Buffy and began to follow her. The first test would be to see if Buffy could detect her.

They left the safe lights of the suburbs behind, and Paige soon found herself entering the deserted city streets on the edge of town. They turned a corner and Paige wondered how much further Buffy had to go to reach her destination. So far Buffy had not sensed her.

Suddenly Buffy whirled around and looked straight at Paige, but due to the distance between them, Paige was shrouded in darkness. Just far enough away that she could not be seen very well.

Turning quickly, Buffy went on.

Paige followed.

Buffy picked up speed and so did Paige.

'Good', Paige thought, 'I can test her speed. See if she can out run me.'

Buffy turned the next corner and went even faster. Paige didn't hurry but kept a discreet distance.

Buffy then ducked into an alleyway.

Paige slowed and nodded. She knew where Buffy was, she could sense her after all like any Whitelighter could sense their charge. She could sense that Buffy was doing a handstand on a pipe ten feet above the ground. She decided to spring Buffy's trap and see what the Slayer would do.

Paige entered the alleyway, and then Buffy dropped down on her without warning, Buffy's legs locked over her neck.

Throwing herself back, Buffy tipped Paige over, then rolled and slammed her body onto the ground.

Paige was on her feet instantly, she was thankful that Phoebe had taught her at least some martial arts.

Buffy grabbed Paige and threw her up against the wall.

Paige put up her hands. "Is there a problem?"

Buffy eyed her suspiciously, getting a good look at Paige for the first time.

Paige looked over Buffy at the same time, blonde, toned, very beautiful. Paige shook her head slightly as if trying to get the thoughts she just thought out of her head. Not that she didn't find Buffy attractive, she did, but she knew it was bordering on illegal territory as Buffy was ten years younger than she was.

"There's a problem," Buffy shot back. "Why are you following me?"

Paige made sure to keep her voice calm as she stated matter of factly, "I know what you're thinking, but don't worry. I don't bite."

Buffy took a step back from Paige, her face perplexed. "What do you want?" she demanded.

'To have you as my lover,' Paige thought and then mentally shook her to dislodge the thought. "Same thing you do," she said out loud.

"Okay, what do I want?"

"To vanquish the vampires," Paige said. "And the other demons."

"Sorry!" Buffy announced, recovering herself neatly, doing her best impression of a game-show host. "That's incorrect, but you do get this lovely watch and a year's supply of Turtle Wax ... what I _want_... is to be left alone."

Paige gazed steadily at Buffy. "You really think that's an option anymore?" she asked. "You're standing on a Hellmouth. And from what I've been told it's about to open." She reached into her jacket pocket and withdrew the jewelry case that held the Carolingian cross that Phoebe had insisted she get for Buffy. "Don't turn your back on this," she warned, throwing the box to the younger girl. "You've got to be ready."

Buffy's chin lifted defiantly. "What for?"

"For the Harvest."

Paige then smiled and orbed out.

Buffy blinked in shock. "A demon?" she asked herself and then she carefully opened the box and saw the Carolingian cross held within. She looked back up at the spot Paige had been just seconds before. "Maybe not, why else would she give me a cross, a very intricate one to boot." She looked back down at it. "It looks expensive."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige stood on the balcony looking down at everything going on below. Ten feet from her stood Buffy next to an elder gentleman she assumed was Rupert Giles, Buffy's Watcher. She could barely make out over the music what the two were saying.

"So, you like to party with the students?" Buffy teased Giles. "Isn't that kind of skanky?"

Giles tone was withering. "Right. This is me having fun." He continued to gaze down upon the stage. "Watching Clown-hair prance about is hardly my idea of a party. I'd much prefer to be home with a cup of Bovril and a good book."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "You need a personality, _stat."_

"This is a perfect breeding ground for vampire activity," he admonished her. "Dark, crowded ... besides, I knew you were likely to show up. And I have to make you understand—"

"That the Harvest is coming, I know, your friend told me."

Giles shot Buffy an anxious glance. "What did you say?"

"The . . . Harvest," she said carefully. "That means something to you? 'Cause I'm drawing a blank."

"I'm not sure. . . . Who told you this?"

"This girl. Beautiful, about my height, brunette, brown gorgeous eyes … in an annoying sort of way. I figured you were buds."

"No . . ." he mumbled, frowning. "The Harvest. . . . Did she say anything else?"

"Something about a Hellmouth. I really didn't like her."

Paige was glad that Buffy did not look her way; she might have pointed her out to the man. She did not want to reveal who she was not yet anyways.

"Look at them," Giles' tone bordered on annoyance. "Throwing themselves about ... completely unaware of the danger that surrounds them."

"Lucky them ..."

Paige sighed; she had a long way to go if this was going to be Buffy's attitude to not only her calling but her powers as well when her witch powers did finally show themselves. She wondered for a moment if Buffy had her powers bound, if that was why they had yet to reveal themselves. She decided to find out. She made her way past Buffy and down the stairs without the Slayer seeing her, thankfully. She walked into the back where she had found the bathrooms earlier. She entered the women's restroom and found an empty stall as she closed the stall door she orbed out and into Buffy's home.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Dawn and Joyce sat watching a movie when suddenly orbing lights appeared in front of them and solidified into a woman. She jumped and stood in front of her mother, she didn't have Buffy's powers but she was not going to let her mother be killed by a demon.

"Dawn, sit down," Joyce said calmly.

Dawn looked at her mother and saw that Joyce was not frightened, not in the least bit. That puzzled her since her mother was supposed to not have believed in the supernatural.

"Sit, down," Joyce repeated as Dawn sat back down on the couch next to her.

Dawn hoped her mother knew what she was doing.

"Hello, Whitelighter," Joyce said as Dawn stared at her. She had not seen a Whitelighter since she had left that life behind and had bound hers, Buffy's and Dawn's powers. "What are you doing here? I'm no longer a witch. And neither are either of my daughters."

Paige sighed. "You bound both of your daughters' powers didn't you?"

"Yes I did," Joyce said as Dawn looked at her with confusion. "At the same time I bound my own. I lost a good friend to a demon. I did not want the same thing to happen to either Dawn or Buffy. It's why they didn't know anything about the supernatural till you orbed in."

"Buffy and I know about the supernatural," Dawn said. "In fact Buffy was called as the Slayer."

Joyce held her hand to her face in shock. "You mean she was telling the truth?" she asked as she looked at her youngest daughter.

"She was," Dawn said. "I know mom you had no part of the deal with her being in the institution, but you could have fought Dad over it."

Joyce sighed as Paige looked between her and Dawn. "My ex-husband knew nothing of the supernatural. He thought she was delusional, had her committed. She eventually recanted her story about fighting vampires and said it had been a way to get our attention."

Paige sighed. "Buffy is the Slayer. Maybe you should have told her and Dawn the truth, Mrs. Summers. If Buffy had the training in her powers she might have been prepared for being the Slayer. But because of what your ex-husband did, she no longer wants to be a part of that life. But she can't, she will be a Slayer till she dies. And I intend to make sure that doesn't happen for years to come."

Joyce let out a sigh and nodded. "I can't unbind her or Dawn's powers, not while mine are bound. I cast a spell to bind all of ours."

"I can fix that," Paige said. "Have you heard of the Charmed Ones?" Joyce nodded. "I'm not only a Whitelighter, but I'm a witch as well. I'm one of the Charmed Ones. If you give me the spell I can unbind yours, Dawn's and Buffy's."

"Will you be the one guiding both Dawn and Buffy?" Joyce asked.

"Yes," Paige replied. "And I will even ask the Elders if you can be added also as my charge."

After Paige had left Dawn stared at her mother for a long time. "Why didn't you tell me or Buffy, really mom, you had to have known what was going on?"

Joyce sighed. "I didn't want to believe what you two went through was related to the supernatural. I tried to distance you both from it, because I didn't want you two to go through what I went through."

"What did you go through, mom?" Dawn asked.

"My best friend was killed by a demon, the year Buffy was born."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"There's one," Buffy said quickly.

Giles stopped. He peered down over the railing, completely nonplussed. "What? Where?"

Pointing, Buffy tried to show him. "Down there. Talking to that girl."

In one far corner stood a good-looking young man. He was talking to a girl, but from where they were standing, neither Giles nor Buffy could really get a good look at her.

Giles cast Buffy a doubtful look. "But you don't know—" he began, while Buffy vehemently interrupted.

"Oh, please! Look at his jacket. He's got the sleeves rolled up. And the shirt . . . deal with that outfit for a moment."

Again Giles looked perplexed. "It's dated?"

"It's carbon dated! Trust me—only someone who's been living underground for ten years would think that was the look."

"But . . . you didn't hone . . ."

Buffy scarcely heard him. She leaned farther out over the balcony and murmured, "Oh, no . . ."

The vampire was still chatting with the girl in the corner. Only now he was motioning her to come with him, and as she finally stepped into view, a sick feeling of dread rose in the pit of Buffy's stomach.

"Isn't that—" Giles began.

"Willow."

"What is she doing?"

"Seizing the moment," Buffy threw back at him as she started for the stairs.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

When Paige returned to the Bronze she found both the man and Buffy gone. She closed her eyes and sensed her charge and then making her way back into the bathroom stall she orbed out. She orbed in outside a mausoleum.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Who the hell are you?" Darla growled.

"Wow, you mean there's actually somebody around here who doesn't know already?" Buffy tossed back. "That's a relief. I'm telling you, having a secret identity in this town is a job of work."

As Buffy held their attention, Xander moved in between the two vampires. Nothing had quite prepared the creatures for this unexpected turn of events, and they slowly loosened their grips on Willow and Jesse.

"Buffy, we bail now, right?" Xander prompted, but Willow's date had managed to recover himself a little.

"Not yet," he snarled.

"Okay, first of all, what's with this outfit?" Buffy baited him. "Live in the now, okay? You look like DeBarge." Then turning to Darla, she added, completely unperturbed, "Now, we can do this the hard way, or . . . well, actually, there's just the hard way."

Darla stood her ground. "Fine with me."

"You sure?" Buffy persisted. "It's not gonna be pretty. We're talking violence, strong language, adult content."

Even as she spoke, Willow's date rushed her from behind, charging with lightning speed. With one graceful motion, Buffy whipped a stake out from beneath her jacket and stuck it out behind her. There was a dull puncture sound as the creature impaled himself. He stopped, eyes round with surprise, and then he thudded to the floor.

Buffy never even looked at him.

As he hit the ground, his body crumbled to dust.

"See what happens when you roughhouse?" Buffy told Darla.

Xander and Willow were speechless. All they could do was stare at the cold, empty floor where a body had lain only seconds ago. Darla, on the other hand, was wide-eyed and wary, but definitely not cowed.

She moved slowly around Buffy, preparing to fight the girl herself.

"He was young," Darla said in disgust. "And stupid."

"Xander, go," Buffy ordered.

"Don't go far," Darla echoed.

Without warning she lunged at Buffy. Buffy met her head-on, parrying Darla's blows with martial arts precision, while Xander herded the others out.

The three ran as quickly as they could through the woods, Willow and Xander half dragging, half carrying Jesse. No one spoke. They were all still trying to cope with the reality of what they'd just seen back there in the mausoleum. Buffy . . . The Slayer. . .

As Buffy got in another effective blow, Darla hit the ground painfully. Buffy wasn't joking anymore. She was sweaty and breathless, and all the humor had drained from her face.

"You know, I just wanted to start over," she said peevishly, planting one foot on Darla's chest. "Be like everybody else. Have some friends, maybe a dog . . . but no. You had to come here. You couldn't go suck on some other town."

"Who are you?" Darla glared up at her, fury in her eyes.

"Don't you know?"

But before Buffy could go on, a pair of hands suddenly grabbed her by the throat and lifted her bodily from the ground.

"I don't care," Luke said slowly.

She hadn't sensed him behind her. As Luke stepped from the shadows, his enormous bulk made her seem tiny and insignificant, and Buffy realized the odds were now dangerously against her. Luke tossed her into the air with no effort at all, hurling her a good fifteen feet. She landed badly and hit the wall with her face.

Luke turned on Darla, who was struggling to get up.

"You were supposed to be bringing an offering for the Master," he berated her. "We're almost at Harvest, and you dally with this child?"

"We had someone." Frightened now, Darla tried to defend herself. "But she came and . . . she killed Thomas . . . Luke, she's strong."

Luke fixed her with a contemptuous stare. "You go. I'll see if I can handle the little girl."

Buffy was trying to lift herself off the floor when Luke closed in and grabbed her. He'd counted on her being stunned, but she was ready for him this time. She knocked his arms away, then kicked him smartly in the face. It sent him back just a little, but he recovered himself almost instantly, landing a solid punch to her jaw.

"You are strong," Luke muttered. He slammed her back to the ground and gave a throaty laugh. "I'm stronger."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Outside Paige decided she had listened long enough. If she didn't get in there, her charge might die before discovering that she was even a witch. So Paige orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"You're wasting my time," Luke said calmly.

"Hey," Buffy retorted as Paige orbed in behind Luke. She hoped Paige was on her side, "I had other plans, too, okay?"

Luke shoved at the lid of the tomb. As the heavy stone slab flew straight at her, Buffy leaped over it and jumped on top. With one swift movement, Buffy flipped over and planted both feet solidly on Luke's chest.

The momentum caused both of them to fall, but Buffy managed to get up first, pulling out her stake and driving it toward his chest. Luke's hand shot out and grabbed it just before it made contact.

"You think you can stop me?" Luke's face was twisted with rage. "Stop us?"

"Yes, she can," Paige said as she held out her hand. "Stake." The stake orbed out of Luke's hand and into her own.

As Luke got up to face his new adversary he found her already driving the stake home as he exploded into dust.

"Who are you?" Buffy asked.

"My name is Paige Matthews," Paige said. "I'm your Whitelighter."

"And they are what?"

"Think of Whitelighters as guardian angels for witches," Paige said. "And you Buffy are not only the Slayer, but a witch. I'm here to guide you towards your destiny and help you in learning to control your powers."


	2. Chapter 2: The Harvest Part 1

**Author's Note:** I forgot to mention even though it was likely obvious. There will be no Angel in this story. Who knows for sure exactly what happened to him in this AU. Maybe Whistler somehow got him on the path to redemption and got him to open his "detective agency" three years early? Who knows. But Paige takes the place of Angel in case it wasn't obvious.

Next only one reviewer suggested a new title and its better than what I had - The Witch Slayer (the reason the title was Tentative was because the title makes it sound like Buffy slays witches instead of vampires). He suggested Charming the Slayer based on the fact this a Paige/Buffy pairing. And so that is what I decided to go with. I've not come up with anything myself and as I said its better than what I had.

* * *

 **Chapter 2: The Harvest Part 1**

"Think of Whitelighters as guardian angels for witches," Paige said. "And you Buffy are not only the Slayer, but a witch. I'm here to guide you and Dawn both towards your destinies and help you both in learning to control your powers."

Buffy shook her head as she began to laugh. "A witch, me? That's beyond funny."

"It's true," Paige said. "We should find the three you saved and make sure their alright and then get you home so your mom can give me the spell to unbind your powers."

Buffy looked toward the door and then nodded. How could she have forgotten Willow, Xander and their friend Jesse. She and Paige ran out the door. They listened for any indication of where the three and the vampire had gone.

And then they heard Willow scream. "No! Nooo! Get—off—"

Paige grabbed Buffy's hand and orbed out and back in to a small clearing in the woods. They saw Willow on the ground, wrestling with a vampire. The creature held Willow mercilessly in his grasp. He was just going in for her neck when Buffy kicked, sending him sprawling backward. He gave a grunt of pain, then staggered to his feet, holding his nose and trying to get away from her.

Buffy stood there a second, catching her breath. All her senses were at their most alert now, and she furiously scanned her surroundings. She heard a cracking sound followed by unmistakable scuffling, and she took off, leaving Willow with Paige.

Paige helped Willow to her feet and then she orbed them out. They orbed in at the edge of another clearing and they caught sight of Xander, his unconscious body being dragged away by two more vampires. As the vampires sensed an unwelcome presence behind them, they slowly turned around and saw her and Willow.

Paige watched, while the vampires were distracted by hers and Willow's presence, Buffy come up in front of the vampires. They turned around and Buffy knocked them both off their feet.

The vampires scrambled to get up and get away. They didn't scramble fast enough.

Grabbing a branch from a nearby tree, Buffy snapped it off and held it in her hand like a stake. She charged one vampire, nailing him neatly through the chest, while the other fled for his life.

Willow ran up to Xander and knelt beside him, cradling his head in her arms. To her relief he seemed to be coming to, and after blinking a few times, he frowned up at her, trying to get his bearings.

"Xander . . . are you okay?" Willow asked softly.

"Man . . ." Xander still seemed a little disoriented. "Something hit me . . ."

Buffy walked a few paces, peering hard through the trees, her expression solemn and worried. "Where's Jesse?"

For the first time Willow seemed to realize that Jesse was missing. "I don't know," she shook her head. "They surrounded us—he was really weak . . ."

"That girl grabbed him," Xander mumbled. "Took off."

"Which way?" Buffy demanded, but Xander looked blank.

"I don't know."

Buffy stared into the night and then she looked straight at Paige who walked up to them.

Paige shook her head as she understood what her charge wanted. She couldn't track Jesse because he wasn't her charge.

"Jesse . . ." Buffy whispered.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

After Paige and Buffy made sure Willow and Xander got home. Paige orbed Buffy back to her own home where Joyce and Dawn waited for them.

Buffy's eyes went wide when they materialized in front of Joyce. She looked at Paige. "I thought you said I wasn't supposed to …"

"Buffy," Joyce interrupted. "I know of the supernatural because like you I'm a witch, a natural born witch." She handed Paige a piece of paper. "This is the spell I used on Buffy, Dawn and myself."

"You mean what she said was true?" Buffy asked shocked.

Dawn let out a sigh. "It's true, Buffy. You, mom and I are witches and mom bound our powers when we were babies."

"I'm sorry, Buffy," Joyce said sincerely. "I did it to give you and Dawn both a normal life. After what had happened to a friend, I was afraid for the two of you. I did not want you two to go through what I had. I bound my and your powers after you were born, Buffy. And then when Dawn was born I had a friend unbind mine so I could bind Dawn's and then I rebound my own. And now you've been called as a Slayer, it seems destiny wants you … wants you both in that world, whether I would like you to have a normal childhood or not."

Buffy sighed. "Just cast this spell then I want to go to bed."

Paige nodded. "It has been a long day. I figure tomorrow will be even longer," she said as she looked over Joyce's spell. The spell looked familiar. "We'll do this tomorrow. I need to check something." She orbed out and back to the manor she had called home for over three years. "Piper!"

Piper walked out of the kitchen to find Paige standing at the base of the stairs. "Hey, Paige. How is your new charge? You were gone for all day."

"I wanted to get to know her," Paige said. "I wanted to show you this though." She handed Piper the piece of paper. "Doesn't that look familiar?"

Piper looked over the paper and then headed upstairs to the attic as Paige followed and to the Book of Shadows. She flipped through the book till she found what she was looking for. She laid the paper next to the spell in the book. "It's a match, word for word. How would your charge get a spell out of our book?"

"She didn't," Paige said. "Her mother cast that spell to bind hers and her daughter's powers."

"I'm going to call Grams and find out …" Piper said.

"No need."

Piper and Paige turned to see Leo standing in the attic door.

"There is only one witch that I know of that used the binding spell from the book," he said. "Your mom had a friend by the name of Joyce Williams. After your mom was killed it started a downward spiral which led to Joyce binding her powers shortly after the birth of her first daughter. She had your Grams unbind them for her second daughter so she could bind that daughter's powers before rebinding her own."

"How do you know this?" Paige asked.

"Joyce was my charge when I was still a Whitelighter," Leo said with a sigh. "She was the only one I failed. I nearly followed Sam's path when she bound her powers."

"Why would you have done that?" Piper asked. "Sam clipped his wings because he was in love with mom. And wanted to make sure no one else died from the demon."

"And I was in love with Joyce at the time," Leo said. "Paige you and Wyatt are not the only ones born from a Whitelighter."

"Buffy and Dawn," Paige said, "are your daughters?"

"Only Buffy," Leo said. "Dawn was born a year later, her father is Joyce's husband. Neither Joyce nor Buffy know that. In fear of the Elders finding out. I cast a spell, I made Joyce forget about me, that I was her Whitelighter and the father of her child. She thinks her husband is the father. She had been dating him, since she knew she and I were forbidden. The night we slept together, she and Hank had an argument and he had left. She needed consoling and one thing led to another."

"How did she get ahold of the spell?" Piper asked.

"Your Grams let her borrow the Book to bind Buffy's powers. She must have copied the spell because she used it to bind Dawn's a year later. According to Grams, Joyce was going to bind her daughter's powers because a warlock was after her. And she rather love her daughter as a mortal than a dead witch."

"She must have heard the story of how Grams and mom bound our powers because of Nicholas," Piper said. "And Grams knowing that it was possible decided to help her out."

"Exactly," Leo said.

"I'm going to unbind their powers," Paige said. "Joyce can help train Buffy and Dawn in the use of their witch powers. And Buffy's witch powers could help her as the Slayer. I will help train Buffy in the use of her Whitelighter powers. Leo, we need to reverse the spell you cast. They should know that you are Buffy's father."

"Its better they don't know," Leo said. "It will just complicate things."

"That maybe so," Piper said. "But just like Paige had the right to know that Sam was her father. Buffy has the right to know who hers is. Besides if I was in her place I would like to meet both my father and my half-brothers."

Leo sighed.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The next morning in the peaceful calm of the school library Giles stood at the railing on the upper level of bookshelves and tried to give Xander and Willow an explanation for what was happening.

"This world is older than any of you know," he told them solemnly. "And contrary to popular mythology, it did not begin as a paradise. For untold eons, demons walked the earth. Made it their home ... their hell."

Willow and Xander both listened intently, their expressions every bit as grave as Giles's own.

"In time they lost their purchase on this reality," he continued, carrying an armload of books down the stairs, "and the way was made for the mortal animals. For man. What remains of the Old Ones are vestiges. Certain magics, certain creatures . . ."

"And vampires," Buffy added. After Paige had left her with her mother, she had quickly gone to bed. Her dreams that night were of Paige. For some reason she could not get the Whitelighter out of her mind.

Xander stood up, clearly agitated.

"Okay, this is where I have a problem, see, because we're now talking about vampires." He frowned. "We're having a talk with vampires in it."

"Isn't that what we saw last night?" Willow asked.

"No, those weren't vampires," Dawn quipped. "Those were just some guys in thundering need of a facial. Or maybe they had rabies—coulda been rabies. And that guy turning to dust ... just a trick of the light." She ignored the look Xander gave her and regarded him with total understanding. "That's exactly what I said the first time I saw a vampire. I mean, when I was done with the screaming part."

"Oooh . . ." Willow murmured. "I need to sit down."

"You are sitting down," Buffy reminded her.

"Oh." Willow gave a vacant nod. "Good for me."

"So vampires are demons?" Xander went on, while Giles again tried to clarify.

"The books tell that the last demon to leave this reality fed off a human, mixed their blood. He was a human form possessed—infected—by the demon's soul." Giles handed Xander one of the heavy volumes. "He bit another, and another ... and so they walk the earth feeding. Killing some, mixing their blood with others to make more of their kind. Waiting for the animals to die out and the Old Ones to return."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige orbed in the Summers home with Leo and found Joyce waiting for her. "Morning, Joyce."

"Morning, Paige," Joyce returned. "Who is this, another one of your charges?"

"No," Paige replied as she shook her head. "This is Leo Wyatt, my brother-in-law. He used to be your Whitelighter."

Joyce's brow knitted in confusion. "Paige, you must be mistaken. I never had a Whitelighter."

Leo let out a sigh. "That's because I cast a memory spell, Joyce. Made you forget about me."

Joyce frowned as she shook her head. "Why would you do that? You are a Whitelighter, you are supposed to guide witches not the other way around."

"Because Joyce you and I were in love," Leo said. "Our relationship was forbidden as you well know. You were dating Hank to try and keep your mind off your feelings for me. Then one night you and Hank had an argument and you called for me. I came over and tried to comfort you. One thing led to another."

"This doesn't make sense," Joyce said. She couldn't believe a word of what she was hearing. A Whitelighter had cast a memory spell to make forget about him. Add on top of that she and he had fallen in love.

"I can prove it," Paige said. "I have here the spell Leo cast. I can reverse it."

"Why can't he?" Joyce wondered.

"It's a long story," Leo said. "I recently fell from grace so that I could be with my wife and my two sons."

"That means he clipped his wings, he's no longer a Whitelighter," Paige said.

Joyce sighed. "I don't know about this. How do I know you two are telling the truth?"

"Do you remember last night when I said I had to check on something," Paige said as Joyce nodded. "The spell you handed me was one I had seen before. In my family's Book of Shadows. You had borrowed the spell from my Grams, Penny Halliwell."

Joyce's eyes went wide. "Mrs. Halliwell is your grandmother?" she asked as Paige nodded. "That makes you Patty's daughter."

"That's right," Paige said, "her youngest. The one she gave up because she and my father were afraid that I would be taken away from them if the Elders knew."

"That's why I cast the spell on you Joyce," Leo said. "I knew you had planned on binding your own and Buffy's powers after she was born. And so I cast the memory spell so that the Elders would never find out about Buffy being my child. Because then they would have taken her away from you."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"A Slayer," Giles continued to explain.

"And that would be a what?" Xander asked him.

"As long as there have been vampires, there has been the Slayer," Giles recited. "One girl in all the world—"

"He loves doing this part," Buffy interrupted.

"All right," Giles conceded, speeding up a little. "They hunt vampires, one Slayer dies, the next is called, Buffy is the Slayer, don't tell anyone." He stopped and drew a breath. "I think that's all the vampire information you need."

"Except for one thing," Xander spoke up. "How do you kill them?"

"You don't," Buffy corrected him. "I do."

"Well, Jesse—"

"Jesse's my responsibility. I let him get taken."

Xander frowned. "That's not true."

"If you hadn't shown up," Willow added loyally, "they would have . . . taken us, too. . . . Does anybody mind if I pass out?"

"Breathe . . ." Dawn ordered her.

Willow nodded. "Breathe."

"Breathe," Buffy said again, and then to Giles, "This big guy, Luke, he talked about an offering to the Master. I don't know who or what that was, but if they weren't just feeding, Jesse may still be alive. I'm gonna find him."

Calmer now, Willow offered a suggestion. "This is probably a dumb question, but shouldn't we call the police?"

"And they'd believe us, of course," Giles replied.

"We don't have to say vampires," Willow stammered. "We could say there was . . . a bad man."

Dawn shook her head consolingly. "They couldn't handle it if they did come. They'd only show up with guns."

"You've no idea where they took Jesse?" Giles asked her.

"I looked around, but . . . soon as they got clear of the woods they could have just—" Buffy made a quick motion with her hand. "—whoom."

"Can they fly?" Xander looked surprised.

"They can drive."

"Oh."

Willow tried to think back. "I don't remember hearing a car."

"Well, let's take an enormous intuitive leap and say they went underground," Giles said.

"Vampires really jam on sewer systems," Buffy agreed. "You can get anywhere in town without catching any rays. I didn't see any access around there, though."

Xander shrugged. "Well, there's electrical tunnels. They run under the whole town."

For a moment Giles considered this. "If we had a diagnostic of the tunnel system, it might indicate a meeting place. I suppose we could go to the building commission—"

"We so don't have time," Buffy cut him off.

"Uh, guys?" Willow said tentatively. "There may be another way."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige looked at Leo and hoped the spell would work. After all it hadn't with Piper, but that was a result of an interaction with Leo's magic while he was an Elder. "Powers and emotions tied, a witch's heart is where it hides. Help her through her agony, bless her with her memory."

Joyce blinked and looked at Paige. "Uh who are you?" she asked and when Paige looked at her, her eyes wide, she smiled. "Just kidding. I remember you now, Leo. And I also remember the love we felt." She sighed and shook her head. "But you're married now. May I ask how did that happen?"

"At first the Elders tried to keep me and Piper separated," Leo said. "Then Piper managed to convince them and they allowed us to date and finally get married. And in time we had two sons, Buffy's half-brothers; Wyatt and Chris. Wyatt is two and Chris only one."

"I'm glad you were finally able to have a life with someone," Joyce said, "even if it wasn't with me."

"I will always love you, Joyce," Leo said. "It nearly broke me when I cast that spell and you bound yours and Buffy's powers. So much so I almost clipped my wings then."

"I'm glad you didn't," Joyce said. She looked to Paige and smiled. "If you are anything like Leo, you will make an excellent Whitelighter for Buffy. Who better to guide, than someone exactly like her."

"Thanks," Paige said. "Are you ready for your powers to be unbound?"

Joyce nodded.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"There it is," Buffy said eagerly.

Willow sat at the computer while everyone else gathered around her. Showing on the screen was a complete map of the city's electrical tunnels.

"This runs under the graveyard," Willow explained, pointing to one in particular, but Xander shook his head.

"I don't see any access," Dawn noted.

"So all the city plans are just open to the public?" Giles asked.

"Uh, well, in a way," Willow frowned a little sheepishly. "I sort of stumbled onto them when I accidentally ... decrypted the city council's security system."

Xander's focus remained on the screen. "Someone's been naughty . . ."

"There's nothing here," Buffy sounded disappointed. "This is useless!"

"I think you should ease up on yourself," Giles consoled her, but Buffy turned on him, obviously distressed.

"You're the one who told me I wasn't prepared enough. Understatement. I thought I was on top of it, and then that monster Luke came out of nowhere—"

She broke off abruptly and Dawn glanced up at her.

"Buffy?" Dawn asked.

But Buffy was remembering the scenes from the past night playing out perfectly in her mind including when Paige showed up. "He didn't come out of nowhere," she said excitedly. "He came from behind me. I was facing the entrance and he came from behind me." She looked at the others around her. "The access to the tunnels is in the mausoleum."

"Are you sure?" Giles straightened.

"The girl must have doubled back with Jesse after I got out," Buffy went on. "God, I'm so mentally challenged!"

"No you're not," Dawn said with a shake of her head.

Xander stepped back, ready for action. "So what's the plan? We saddle up, right?"

"There's no 'we,'" Buffy corrected him. "I'm the Slayer and you're not."

"I knew you were gonna throw that in my face," Xander grumbled.

"Xander, this is deeply dangerous," Dawn said. "Believe me I know. Even when Buffy first found out she was the Slayer, she and Merrick wouldn't let me patrol. I saw my first vampire the night of the dance when Buffy and I burned down the gym."

"I'm inadequate. That's fine. I'm less than a man."

Xander turned his back on her and walked off. With a sympathetic glance in Xander's direction, Willow appealed to Buffy.

"Buffy, I'm not anxious to go into a dark place full of monsters, but I do want to help. I need to."

"Then help me," Giles replied without hesitation. "I've been researching this Harvest affair. Seems to be some sort of preordained massacre. Rivers of blood, hell on earth . . . quite charmless. I am fuzzy on the details, however, and it may be that you can wrest some information from that dread machine."

He paused, glancing from one uncomprehending look to another.

"That was a bit British, wasn't it?" he admitted, embarrassed.

Buffy smiled. "Welcome to the new world."

"I want you to go on the Net," Giles translated.

"Oh!" Willow brightened. "Yeah. Sure. I can do that."

"Then I'm out of here," Buffy announced. "If Jesse's alive, I'll bring him back."

Giles stepped forward, his grave expression softening. "Do I have to tell you to be careful?"

Buffy met his eyes for a long moment.


	3. Chapter 3: The Harvest Part 2

**Chapter 3: The Harvest Part 2**

Paige let out a sigh. "Try calling on your power now," she said. She had just cast the reversal spell that would give Joyce her powers back.

Joyce nodded as she tried to remember the trigger for her power. And then slowly she faded from view.

"It seems you remember how to use your power," Leo said.

"That's good," Joyce said as she became visible once more. "I had always wondered …" She then noticed a frown on Paige's face. "What?"

"I was just sensing Buffy's location and found her not at school but in a cemetery," Paige said.

Joyce let out a sigh. "Why would she have skipped classes?" she asked.

"I don't know," Paige said, "but I'll find out." She orbed out just as the telephone rang.

Joyce moved to the desk in the living room and picked it up. "Hello?"

"Mom," came Dawn's voice. "I thought I would call you before the school does if they haven't already. Buffy left school after getting some new information on what happened last night. She's going to try and save a boy that was taken."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy moved cautiously, inching farther and farther into the darkness of the mausoleum. Her eyes kept a continual watch. She reached the iron door on the opposite side of the room. She tried it, but it was locked. Standing there, she lowered her arms to her sides and let out a long, slow breath.

Suddenly she felt a presence. "Paige?" she said as she turned face her Whitelighter.

"Your mom was not happy when I told her you weren't at school," Paige said. "And I'm not sure the school calling just as I orbed out helped matters. What are you doing here?"

"Jesse could still be alive," Buffy said. "I'm going to try and save him. Can you get me to the other side of the gate?"

"I could or…" Paige suddenly stopped when she noticed a shadow in the door. She and Buffy turned to find Xander there.

"Who is this?" Xander asked.

"Paige Matthews," Buffy said. "You remember her from last night don't you? I was just asking …" Paige shook her head as if to warn her not to say anything about her being a Whitelighter or a witch. "… telling her I could do this on my own. What are you doing here?"

"Something stupid. I followed you," Xander didn't seem at all contrite. "I couldn't just sit around not doing anything."

Buffy stared at him, not knowing whether to laugh or scream. "I understand. Now go away."

"No!"

"Xander, you're gonna have to!"

"Jesse's my bud, okay?" Xander insisted. "If I can help him, then that's what I gotta do."

She paused, weighing the sincerity of his words.

"Besides," Xander added, "it's this or chem class."

Buffy sighed.

Paige sighed too. It was Buffy's call of course but she couldn't fault Buffy's friend from wanting to help save his friend. Then a thought occurred to her. Why hadn't the Cleaners erased his memory of last night? She began to think he had a part to play in Buffy's destiny.

Buffy kicked the gate open and the three of them made their way through the maze like tunnels.

Dark and twisting, the tunnels ran in all directions. They moved slowly as they came to a corner and turned. This new passageway seemed to be empty, Buffy hesitated a moment, ears straining through the eerie quiet. Once more they started forward.

They continued down the tunnel, reaching the end and pausing to listen.

There was nothing around the next corner.

Relieved, they turned into still another passageway, their eyes searching the shadows. They kept close to each other, bodies tense, ready for anything.

"Okay," Xander said, trying to prepare himself. "So, crosses, garlic, stake through the heart."

"That'll get it done," Buffy assured him.

"Cool. Of course, I don't actually have any of those things."

Paige rolled her eyes. Of course she couldn't fault him for not coming prepared; after all she had not come prepared either.

Buffy gave Xander a look, then immediately handed him a cross. "Good thinking."

"Well, the part of my brain that would tell me to bring that stuff is still busy telling me not to come down here," Xander defended himself. "I brought this, though."

He produced a flashlight and flicked it on. The bright beam of light stabbed through the darkness, illuminating seeping walls and oozing puddles underfoot.

"Turn that off!" Buffy hissed while Xander scrambled to do so.

"Okay, okay," Xander complied. "So, what else?"

"What else what?"

"For vampire slayage."

Buffy sighed. "Fire, beheading, sunlight, holy water . . . the usual."

"So," Xander's voice sounded a little weak. "You've done some beheading in your time?"

"Oh, yeah. There was this one time, I was pinned down by this vampire, he played left tackle for the varsity—I mean, before he was . . . well anyway, he's got one of those really thick necks, and all I've got is a little X-Acto knife—"

"Buffy," Paige interrupted. "You're not helping. He's not loving the story."

Xander managed to suppress a shudder. "Actually," he mumbled, "I find it oddly comforting."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Are we going to the Bronze tonight?" Harmony asked Cordelia.

They were in computer class—definitely not one of Cordelia's favorites. And today—like all other days—even though everyone else was working diligently on their assignments, devising programs was the furthest thing from Cordelia's mind.

Now she glanced over at Harmony, her class partner, who was also struggling to make sense of their project, and Harmony realized that Cordelia hadn't heard her question.

"No!" Cordelia burst out in total frustration. "It's supposed to find the syntax and match it. Or, wait ..."

Harmony kept her eyes on the keyboard, typing slowly. "Are we going to the Bronze tonight?" she asked again.

"No," Cordelia retorted. "We're going to the other cool place in Sunnydale."

Harmony gave her a blank look, and Cordelia sighed.

"Of course we're going to the Bronze! Friday night, no cover. But you should have been there last night."

Harmony didn't ask what had happened. Instead she just frowned at their program. "I think we did this part wrong."

"Why do we have to devise these programs?" Cordelia asked irritably. "Isn't that what nerds are for?"

She glanced at the desk beside them where Dawn and Willow was sitting. "What did they do?" she mumbled.

Harmony craned over to look at Dawn and Willow. Both of the girls were obviously lost in her own world bringing things up on the Net and was completely engrossed in her work. She shrugged and looked at Cordelia. "Uh, their doing something else."

Cordelia glared. Sure enough, both girls were busy at the next terminal. She dismissed them with a sneer and went back to holding court. "Okay," she said to Harmony. "And then 'Pattern Run,' right? Or 'Go To End.' That's it."

Harmony looked completely lost. "Maybe . . . I think . . ."

"Well, what does the book say?" Cordelia was practically out of patience. "So anyway," she went on, "I come out of the bathroom and she comes running at me with a stick, screaming, 'I'm gonna kill you! I'm gonna kill you!' I swear."

"Who?" Jared asked. He was one of the cutest guys in class, and he leaned eagerly from his desk now to listen.

With smug satisfaction Cordelia realized she'd finally hooked an audience.

"Buffy," she told him.

"One of the new girls," Harmony echoed.

Jared looked puzzled. "What's her deal?"

"She's crazed!" Cordelia said.

"Did you hear about their old school?" Harmony asked conspiratorially as she pointed toward Dawn. "Booted."

"I exhibit no surprise," Cordelia declared.

Jared leaned closer. "Why were they kicked out?"

"'Cause they're both psycholoony," Cordelia said.

"No, Buffy and I are not."

The voice was totally unexpected. It spoke out firmly and calmly, and the other three turned to look and found Dawn standing over them her eyes blazing with anger.

"And if I hear you repeating that, I will make sure you regret it," Dawn said and then she nudged Willow who got up and the two of them left the room.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"They're close," Buffy said.

They'd been walking quite a while without speaking. Tunnel after tunnel melted into nothingness behind them, and their uneasiness continued to grow. There was no comfortable banter between them now. The air was heavy, thick with a dark, dangerous expectancy, and Buffy frowned as she scanned the blackness with worried eyes.

"How can you tell?" Xander asked nervously.

"No more rats," Paige remarked remembering the version of vampire she and her sisters had faced last year. They were a different sect than these; these were more of a possessor demon. Though these vampires shared similarities to the kind her and her sisters had faced, such as the requirement to drink blood. When there are no human sources it was a safe bet they could lower themselves to drink from rats.

It wasn't exactly the information he wanted to hear, but Xander said nothing. They passed through several more tunnels before he spoke again.

"Over there." He stopped, pointing. "What's that?"

Ahead of them was a small, gloomy side chamber. They could just barely make out the outline of a doorway, but past that, nothing.

After a quick glance behind them, they walked closer. Xander pulled out his flashlight and played it slowly over the entrance.

The light shone faintly just beyond the opening. Over the motionless shape of a body, lying face down on the ground.

Xander drew a quick, sudden breath. "Jesse!"

"Oh, no . . ." Buffy murmured. She glanced at Paige and then at Xander.

Paige nodded in understanding. Should anything go south she would orb Xander out even if it meant the risk of exposure.

Buffy started forward as Xander kept the light focused on her. Reaching Jesse, she held out her arms to help him.

Jesse leaped at her without warning, a heavy pipe brandished in his fist. As he prepared to bring it down on her head, Xander's voice rang out.

"Jesse!"

Jesse stopped, amazed. "Xander?"

With a look of sheer relief, Jesse dropped his weapon. He walked slowly toward his friend, meeting Xander's hug with one of his own. After a moment, Xander pulled away, holding Jesse at arm's length, looking him over.

"Jesse, man, are you okay?"

"I'm not okay on an epic scale." Jesse made a frail attempt at humor.

Something was wrong, Paige could almost feel it. Why was Jesse here alone simply chained to the wall? She was sure that he was being used as bait. "We should get out here," she said. "He's bait."

"Bait?" Xander asked as he looked at Paige.

Buffy looked around realizing Paige was correct. She ran one hand over Jesse's restraints. "Hold on," she said grimly. Taking the pipe he'd dropped, she smashed the lock on the shackles. The sound of it reverberated back and back through the labyrinth of tunnels.

Xander cringed, fixing Buffy and Paige with a doubtful stare. "You think anybody heard that?" he murmured.

"Yes, someone heard," Paige said. "As I said, your friend here is bait and we walked into the trap. We are going to be hard pressed I believe getting back out."

Buffy motioned Jesse and Xander to follow her. "Paige."

Paige nodded in understanding. If anything happened to Buffy she could orb Xander and Jesse out before a vampire could hopefully grab them or her.

"They knew you were gonna come," Jesse said anxiously. He nodded to Paige. "She's right. They said that I—I was the bait ... I've seen their leader." He didn't have to elaborate; as Paige, Buffy and Xander watched him, the look of sheer horror in his eyes said all there was to say.

Quickly Buffy led the way back through the tunnel. Then without warning, she froze in her tracks. There ahead of them in the deep, murky, shadowy tunnel were multiple vampires.

"Oops," Buffy said.

Jesse's voice quivered with fear. "Oh, no, no ..."

"Do you know another way out?" Paige asked Jesse

Jesse threw her a desperate look. "I don't, uh, maybe?"

"Come on," Xander ordered.

Turning, they hurried in the opposite direction. They began to run, and as they came to a junction of several tunnels, they chose one and headed inside. They didn't expect to see the eyes there ahead of them, gleaming in the darkness— they didn't expect the whispered sounds of laughter. They swung back again, until they reached yet another intersection.

"Wait, wait," Jesse paused breathlessly. "They brought me through here! There should be a way up. I hope."

No one stopped to argue—they simply ran.

A moment later they found themselves in a small, murky chamber. Too late, they saw the vampires closing slowly in behind them—too late, Buffy realized their only way out was going to be Paige.

"Paige," Buffy said as she looked at her Whitelighter. "I know you don't want to show them that you don't want to risk exposure. But …"

Paige let out a sigh; innocent lives were as stake here. She knew Buffy was right. There was a time to hide her powers and a time to risk exposure."

"Give me your hands," Paige said to Jesse and Xander who looked at her as if she were crazy. "Give me your hands. If you want to get out of here, you will do it now."

Jesse frowned as his face transformed, into a vampiric visage.

Paige grabbed Buffy and Xander's hands as Jesse lunged at them and she orbed out with them leaving Jesse standing all alone in the room.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Giles was pouring intently over his notes. When he suddenly realized that someone had entered the library, he glanced up, his voice hopeful.

"Buffy?"

Willow shook her head, looking apologetic. "It's just me and Dawn. So there's no word?"

Giles's face fell. "Not as yet." He looked very tired as he took off his glasses.

"Buffy is alright," Dawn said. "I'm sure of that." She didn't mention Paige, but her mother had told her that Paige had orbed out just as she had called to let her mom know that Buffy had skipped classes and why.

"Did either of you find anything of interest?" he asked them.

The girls sat down, spreading out the copied articles so he could see.

"I think maybe," Willow said. "We looked through the old papers, around the time of that big earthquake back in 'Thirty-seven." She placed her finger on one of the pages. "And for several months before it, there was a rash of murders."

"Great!" Giles straightened and put his glasses back on. "I mean, not great in a good way. . . . Go on."

Dawn flipped through the articles. "They sound like the kind you were looking for. Throats, blood. Months, and not even a clue."

"It's all coming together." He nodded. And then, with an anxious glance at Willow and Dawn, "I rather wish it weren't."

Just at that moment Paige orbed into the library with Buffy and Xander.

Willow and Giles looked at Paige with wide eyes.

"Hi," Paige said. "The name's Paige."

"I thought you didn't want to do that in front of others, that it would risk exposure," Dawn said.

"Normally I don't," Paige said. "There were extenuating circumstances. And this was the first place I thought of, especially since Mr. Giles is Buffy's Watcher."

"What are you talking about?" Willow asked.

"I'm a Whitelighter," Paige said. "Buffy and Dawn's to be in fact."

"I've heard of Whitelighters," Giles said. "The Devon coven has one. I met him a couple years ago. Wait you said you were Buffy and Dawn's Whitelighter?"

"That's right," Paige said.

Giles looked to Buffy and Dawn. "But you two are not witches."

"Actually," Buffy said with a glance at Paige.

Paige sighed. "Go ahead. If they're not meant to know the Cleaners will erase their memory of you telling them and my orbing in front of them. I figure that there is a reason that they have not had a visit yet already."

Buffy nodded. "Mom bound our powers when we were babies."

"This is astonishing," Giles said. "I've never heard of a Slayer who was a witch as well, especially one gifted with powers."

"Not that this isn't interesting," Willow said. "And it is and I know I want to know more. But, did you find Jesse?" Deep down she was pretty sure she already knew the answer.

Xander confirmed it with a terse reply. He wouldn't even look at her. "Yeah."

"Worse," Buffy echoed.

She plopped heavily into a chair, her face a mixture of anger and regret.

"I'm sorry, Willow," Paige said. "We were too late. And they were waiting for us."

Willow shook her head. "At least you guys are okay."

"I don't like vampires," Xander burst out. He aimed his foot at a trash can, kicking it in frustration. "I'm gonna take a stand and say they're not good."

Buffy turned to the Watcher. "So, Giles, you got anything that can make this day worse?"

"How about the end of the world?" he replied calmly.

"I knew I could count on you."

"This is what we know," Giles went on. "Some sixty years ago, a very old, very powerful vampire came to this shore, and not just to feed."

Buffy sat down at the table. She rested her chin on her hands. "He came 'cause this town is a mystical whoosit?"

"A Hellmouth," Paige supplied as Giles looked at her. "I'm the one she mentioned to you. I was ten feet away when you two were having that conversation last night."

Giles nodded. "The Spanish who first settled here called it Boca Del Infierno, but Paige here is correct, roughly translated it means Hellmouth." He began pacing. "A sort of portal from this reality to the next. This vampire hoped to open it."

"Bring the demons back," Dawn added.

"End of the world," Xander clarified.

"But he blew it," Willow picked up the story. "Or, I mean, there was an earthquake that swallowed about half the town. And him, too—or at least there were no more vampire-type killings afterward."

Giles looked thoughtful as he pulled up a chair. "Opening dimensional portals is tricky business. Odds are he got himself stuck. Like a cork in a bottle."

"Not as hard as one thinks," Paige said. "But not easy either. It's mostly a power relegated to hire beings. Very few witches have the kind of power it requires to open a portal; it is a very advanced form of magic."

"And this Harvest thing is to get him out?" Xander asked.

"It comes once in a century. On this night."

Giles stood and crossed to a chalkboard where he'd rendered several mysterious diagrams. He began to design several more as he explained.

"A Master can draw power from one of his minions while it feeds. Enough power to break free and to open the portal. The minion is called the Vessel, and he bears this symbol."

He paused, pointing to a sketch of the three-pointed star.

"So," Buffy made an attempt at cheerfulness. "I dust anyone sporting this look, and no Harvest."

"Simply put," Giles responded, "yes."

"Any clue where this little get-together is being held?"

"Well, there are a number of possibilities—"

Before Giles could finish, Xander broke in. "They're going to the Bronze."

The room went silent. They all stared at him.

"Are you sure?" Dawn looked surprised, but Xander simply shrugged his shoulders.

"Come on, tasty young morsels all over the place. Anyway, that's where Jesse's gonna be. Trust me."

"Then we need to get there." Giles's voice was tense. "The sun will be down before long."

Willow, Xander and Giles headed for the door, but Buffy and Dawn moved beside Paige.

"We gotta make a stop," Buffy explained. "Won't take long."

"What for?" Giles asked.

Dawn gave a secretive smile. "Supplies."

And then Paige orbed out with Buffy and Dawn.


	4. Chapter 4: The Harvest Part 3

**Chapter 4: The Harvest Part 3**

Paige orbed Buffy and Dawn into the living room where Leo and Joyce waited.

"Buffy?" Joyce said with a sigh.

"I know mom," Buffy said. "If there hadn't been a chance Jesse could still have been alive, I wouldn't have cut class."

"I understand," Joyce said. "I take it he was already dead when you found him?" Buffy nodded. "I'm sorry to hear that. Buffy since your home I want you to meet someone."

Leo glanced at Paige who nodded.

"Come on, Dawn," Paige said. "We need to get those supplies." She looked at Joyce. "There is a vampire feeding frenzy at that club Buffy went to last night. I'll make sure both Buffy and Dawn come home in one piece."

Joyce simply nodded as she watched her daughters' Whitelighter lead Dawn out of the room and toward the stairs. She turned her attention back to Buffy. "Buffy, this is Leo Wyatt. He's Paige's brother-in-law."

"Brother-in-law?" Buffy asked.

"Paige is half-Whiterlighter," Leo told her, "half-witch. She and her sisters are the most powerful of their generation. Just like you."

"Like me," Buffy asked with a shake of her head. She wasn't sure where this was going.

Leo let out a sigh. "Sixteen years ago, I was your mother's Whitelighter. "

"We fell in love, Buffy," Joyce said. "At time when doing so was a violation of the rules. Then we compounded the problem by having a child together."

"I have …" Buffy started.

"No," Joyce said. "I only ever had you and Dawn. Leo cast a spell erasing my memory of him. And as a result I believed Hank was the father of my baby, of you."

Buffy blinked and looked at Leo. "You … your my father?"

Leo nodded. "I am."

"Why would you cast a spell making mom forget you?" Buffy asked.

"Because our relationship was forbidden. In fact your mom started dating Hank to try and help her forget her feelings for me," Leo said. "Then one night Hank and your mom had an argument. Joyce called for me and I came to comfort her. One thing led to another and you were conceived. If the Elders had found, they would have taken you away, as well making sure your mom was assigned a new Whitelighter. I knew your mom was going bind yours and her own powers. So I cast the spell to ensure you would never be taken from her. I spoke of this with no one till Paige was assigned to be your Whitelighter."

Tears began to flow down her cheeks as Buffy slowly moved to Leo and he enfolded her into his arms.

Paige and Dawn returned from upstairs with a duffle bag and saw the tear filled reunion of father and daughter. Paige had explained to Dawn while they were upstairs what was happening.

Dawn smiled at her sister and handed Paige the bag and then moved over to Buffy and touched her sister's shoulder.

Buffy looked at Dawn who wiped the tears from her face as Leo released Buffy.

"Leo," Paige said, "before we leave. I have a quick question. Willow and Xander the two that Buffy rescued last night. Their memories weren't wiped. Do you think …"

"While both sides as you know gave the Cleaners absolute jurisdiction with the Tribunal able to overrule them," Leo said. "The Angel of Destiny also can overrule them when it comes to someone's destiny. This Willow and Xander must have an important part to play in both Buffy and Dawn's destinies. So important that they can't have their memories erased of the knowledge."

Paige nodded as she took Buffy and Dawn's hands and orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

There was no one outside when Paige, Dawn, Buffy and the others arrived at the Bronze. Buffy struggled to get the front door open, but it wouldn't budge.

"It's locked," she told them.

Giles looked almost sick. "We're too late."

"Well, I didn't know I was gonna meet my real father!" Buffy told him.

"Can you break it down?" Xander asked, but Buffy shook her head. "What about, Paige. Can you get us in?"

"I could," Paige said. "But that would risk not only exposure on a grand scale. But also would reveal our presence instantly to the vampires inside."

"You guys try the back entrance," Buffy said as she looked at her sister, Giles, Willow and Xander. "Paige and I'll find our own way."

"Right." Giles glanced from Xander to Willow to Dawn. "Come on."

"Guys!" Buffy called out to them. "You get the exit cleared, and you get people out," she instructed them. "That's all. Don't go Wild Bunch on me."

"See you on the inside," Dawn promised as she shoulder the duffle bag.

As they took off around the building, Buffy turned to Paige. "You were there last night. Do you think there is somewhere you can orb us without being seen?"

"I think I have the perfect spot," Paige said as she orbed herself and Buffy out. They orbed in behind an oblivious vampire.

"I feel him rising!" Darla shouted. "I need another!"

Buffy stared at the three-pointed star on Darla's forehead.

"The Vessel . . ." she murmured.

The oblivious vampire turned and grabbed Buffy.

"Tonight is his ascension," Darla informed the horrified onlookers. "Tonight will be history at its end! Yours is a glorious sacrifice. Degradation most holy." He stopped, his evil gaze sliding from one face to another. "What, no volunteers?"

And then Troy emerged, holding Cordelia. "Here's a pretty one," he said.

"Nooo . . ." Cordelia struggled, but to no avail. As she started to cry, Troy dragged her toward the stage and handed her over to Darla.

The activity had momentarily distracted Buffy's captor. With one quick movement, she slipped from the vampire's grasp and threw him off the balcony. He landed on his back right in front of the stage.

The room plunged into shocked silence.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Buffy said. "Were you in the middle of something?"

Looking up, Darla's face contorted with fury. "YOU!"

"You didn't think I'd miss this, did you?" Buffy tossed back at her.

The anger drained from Darla's expression. Her lips curled in a dangerous smile. "I hoped you'd come," she said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Wielding a metal pipe, Giles burst through the backstage exit with Dawn, Xander and Willow close behind.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

A vampire rushed Buffy and Paige from the side. Grabbing him easily, Buffy tossed him into the hookah pit, where he tried to scramble back up. Buffy did a backward flip, sailed through the hole, and landed on top of a pool table. Paige a second later landed beside her.

With one simple handspring, Buffy grabbed a pool cue and landed neatly on her feet just as a vampire came at her and Paige.

Without looking at him, Buffy jammed the cue end into his heart. There was a soft sound of punctured flesh, and when Buffy released the cue it stayed right where it was.

"Okay, Vessel-girl." Buffy stared straight at Darla, challenge flashing in her eyes. "You want blood?" She stepped forward as the cue rose into the air. It looked curiously like the arm of a guard gate, and in the next second, the vampire's impaled body thudded to the floor as it dusted.

"I want yours," Darla snarled at her. "Only yours."

"Then come and get it."

Seeing her chance, Cordelia tried to break free of Darla's grasp. Darla flung her roughly away just as Buffy leaped at her and slammed her fist into Darla's face. Darla was shocked at her strength. She stumbled back in pain.

Almost instantly Darla came back at her. Buffy ducked and met her face again, this time with a roundhouse kick. She whipped out her stake and took aim, but Darla blocked her with a blow to her face. Badly hurt now, Buffy skidded into the corner. The stake fell at Darla's feet.

As the crowd panicked and shoved in all directions, the backstage door burst open. Xander stumbled out and nearly fell, but recovered himself at once. He took a quick look around, saw that the immediate vicinity was free of vampires, and instantly began herding people out.

"Come on!" he yelled. He noticed Paige was moving for the front door. As fast as he could direct them, he moved the panicky crowd through the door. Dawn, Willow and Giles waited backstage to push everyone safely toward the exit.

Darla was closing in. Buffy kicked her fiercely in the chest, sending her back against the wall. She landed hard.

Seeing her chance, Buffy went in for the kill. Then she spotted Xander. He was too busy getting people out to notice the vampire at his back. She turned to the drum kit, kicked the cymbal off its stand, and caught it in midair. The vampire had reached Xander now; she could see Xander's look of fear as the creature grabbed him.

Buffy hurled the cymbal Frisbee style.

Sensing something, the vampire turned, his eyes wide, as the cymbal flew straight at his neck.

Xander heard the slice and ducked away. His eyes followed the trajectory of the severed head as it sailed across the room. "Heads up ..." he mumbled.

Buffy barely had time to turn before Darla grabbed her from behind. His arms closed around her and he lifted her in a crushing bear hug.

Both Paige and Xander started toward Buffy, but a shriek stopped them in their tracks. Whirling around, they saw Jesse dragging Cordelia farther below the stairs. As Cordelia screamed and struggled, Jesse threw her to the ground and knelt above her, pinning her with his weight.

"Hold still!" Jesse ordered her. "You're not helping."

"Xander," Paige said as she tossed Xander a stake. "And remember that is no longer your friend."

Xander nodded as he caught the stake and moved up behind Jesse and Cordelia. He stood there looking at his friend and Cordelia and then he thrust the stake through Jesse's back into his heart as Jesse exploded into dust. He stretched out his hand.

Cordelia looked at the hand and then up at Xander and slowly she took it as he helped her to her feet.

Buffy twisted uselessly in Darla's grasp. She could feel him squeezing and squeezing—everything around her spinning, fading to black ...

She coughed and choked, gasped desperately for air. From some distant place she thought she could hear Darla laughing. "I've always wanted to kill a Slayer," she confessed. She sounded proud and somewhat amused.

And then Buffy heard something else the sound of a vampire exploding to dust and then pain lessened and she collapsed into someone's arms.

"Buffy?" Paige asked as she held the Slayer.

"Paige?" Buffy said as she looked up at Paige and smiled. It had been her that had dusted Darla.

Giles and Willow came out from backstage. Xander, Cordelia, Buffy and Paige met them in the middle of the dance floor.

Giles glanced around, a note of relief in his voice. "I take it it's over."

"Did we win?" Willow was almost afraid to ask.

They looked about at the carnage surrounding them. Most of the crowd had managed to escape by then, but a few still remained, some sitting, some wandering, all of them stunned and silent.

"Well, we averted the apocalypse," Buffy said wearily. "You gotta give us points for that." She looked at Cordelia whose head rested on Xander's shoulder and she smiled. It seemed Queen C had maybe fallen for her rescuer.

"One thing's for sure," Xander sighed. "Nothing is ever gonna be the same."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Contrary to Xander's prediction, the next day dawned as it always did.

And everything looked amazingly normal.

The warm California sunshine enveloped Sunnydale High, and in the fountain quad the routine was exactly the same. Students milled about laughing and talking, and Harmony, the new Queen of Sunnydale High, held court with her friends.

"Well, I heard it was rival gangs fighting for turf," she said dramatically. She glanced around at all the eager faces, her adoring fans clinging to every word. "Anyway, Buffy totally knew these guys, which is too weird. I can't remember anything too well, but I'm telling you, it was a freak show."

"Oh, I wish I'd been there," one wannabe sighed.

Crossing the quad in the opposite direction, Buffy, her sister and their own friends happened to overhear Harmony's play-by-play. While Buffy hid a smile, Xander turned to the sisters in exasperated disbelief.

"Well, what exactly were you expecting?" Buffy chided him, while Xander gave an indignant shrug.

"I don't know! Something. The dead rose!"

"We should've at least had an assembly," Cordelia added. She looked to Xander and smiled. All this time she had thought him to be a total loser, but who knew that he would wind up being her knight in shining armor?

"People have a tendency to rationalize what they can," Giles reminded him gently as he and Paige joined them outside the building. He had managed to talk Principal Flutie in hiring Paige as his assistant, "and forget what they can't."

Dawn nodded in agreement. "Believe me, Buffy and I've seen it happen. My dad was that way."

"Well, I'll never forget it," Willow said emphatically, giving an inward shudder. "None of it."

Paige smiled. "Good. Next time you'll be prepared."

"Next time?" Xander sounded suspicious, while Willow echoed, "Next time is why?"

Giles gave them a tolerant smile. "We stopped the Master from freeing himself and opening the Hellmouth. Doesn't mean he'll stop trying. I'd say the fun is just beginning."

"More vampires?" Willow croaked.

"Not just vampires." Giles stopped and turned to face them. His expression was very solemn, even for him. "The next creature we face may be something quite different."

Buffy looked to Paige and smiled. "I can hardly wait," she said.

"We're at a center of mystical convergence here," Giles went on. "We may in fact stand between the earth and its total destruction."

Xander shook his head. "Buffy, this isn't good."

"Well, I gotta look on the bright side," Buffy told them cheerfully. "Maybe I can still get kicked out of school."

She smiled at Paige and Giles and started off, Dawn, Willow and Xander hurrying to keep up with her.

"Hey, that's a plan," Xander was agreeable. "'Cause a lot of schools aren't on hellmouths."

"Maybe you could blow something up," Willow suggested helpfully. "They're really strict about that."

"I think Buffy and I were going to aim for the more subtle approach," Dawn said, "like excessive not studying."

Watching them go, Giles shook his head. He arched one eyebrow and settled his glasses more firmly upon his nose. "The earth is doomed," he sighed.

Paige laughed as she watched her charges and their friends walk off. Once she had orbed Buffy and Dawn home the night before she had unbound their powers and then Leo and Buffy had gotten to know each other before she had orbed herself and him home. She was sure that her charges would become powerful witches in their own rights.

She looked to the heavens and smiled, silently thanking whoever assigned a Whitelighter her charge that Buffy and Dawn were hers.


	5. Chapter 5: The Witch Part 1

**Chapter 5: The Witch Part 1**

"So do you know what, Buffy or Dawn's powers are yet?" Phoebe asked her baby sister who was getting ready to orb to Sunnydale.

"Not yet," Paige said. "They just had their powers unbound a few days ago, Pheobe. They've yet to find out what the trigger is for them or even what they are. Even Joyce didn't know. Unlike us their family didn't hand down the powers through the generations. Each generation may or may not have had a power from a previous generation. We already tried testing to see if they had Joyce's power."

"What is her power again?" Phoebe wondered.

"Invisibility," Paige said. "And neither Dawn nor Buffy have it as Joyce's trigger didn't work for either of them."

"What about Buffy's Whitelighter powers?"

"I've started telekinetic orbing since that was my first power," Paige said as she thought back on how she had learned about the power. "So that one should be easy for her to master because I can guide her through it. Then I'll move on to orbing itself. The rest are going to be hard for her to learn, but thankfully I have Leo for that. He's going to be teaching Buffy about the Whitelighter powers I have yet to learn how to control."

"How does she feel about Leo being her dad and the fact she has two half-brothers?" Piper asked as she walked into the kitchen.

"Believe it or not she's happy," Paige said. "I take it from her, Joyce and Dawn that while Buffy and Dawn loved Hank and he them, their relationship was strained by the divorce alone. I don't know if Joyce has even gotten ahold of him to tell him that he isn't Buffy's father."

"It may be better not to," Piper said. "If he knew he could take Joyce to court over the child support he likely is paying and while Leo is now mortal, he officially doesn't have a social security number, bank account, he can't even hold a job since he well died over fifty years ago. It would be in Joyce's best interest till Buffy graduates from High School not to say anything."

"Yeah, I know. I was thinking the same thing," Paige said. "Well I got to get to Sunnydale."

"Have a good day," Piper and Phoebe said as Paige orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige smiled as she looked at Buffy standing in front of her and Giles in her old Hemery High cheerleading outfit

"This is madness," Giles said as he too looked at Buffy.

"You don't like the color," Buffy said. She looked to Paige and wondered what Paige thought of her in the uniform as she began to picture Paige taking it off her. She mentally shook her head to dislodge the thought.

"I what? I don't—Buffy, do you ignore everything I say? As a rule?" Giles wondered.

Buffy smiled. "No, I believe that's your trick. I told you I'm going out for the cheerleading squad."

"You have a sacred birthright, Buffy. You have been chosen to destroy vampires, demons and the forces of darkness, not wave pom-poms at people. As the Watcher, I forbid it."

"And you will stop her how?" Paige asked as she glanced at Giles.

Giles glared at Paige and shook his head. "I take it this was your idea, Paige?"

"One thing my being a witch has taught me," Paige said. "Is that it helps to have normal things outside of your calling, your destiny. If you can't live a normal life, or at least a semblance of a normal life, than what are you fighting for? I want Buffy to live to be eighty, ninety, even a hundred years old. But she won't escape her teens if she doesn't start living now."

Giles let out a sigh.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

CHEERLEADING TRYOUTS the sign read as Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Cordelia and Xander walked through the doors of the gym.

"Giles didn't approve, huh?" Willow asked.

Buffy shook his head. "He totally lost his water. We haven't even seen a vampire or a demon in a week. I'd say he should get a girlfriend if he wasn't so old. Now Paige, she's one hundred percent behind me. Gave Giles this speech about how I needed normal stuff to remind me what I had to live for. What I was saving the world for nightly."

"People scoff at things like school spirit," Xander said, "but when you see these young women giving their all like this ..." he noticed Amber spread eagle with her feet on two chairs. "... Oooh, stretchy. Where was I?"

Cordelia frowned as she lifted a hand to Xander's chin and gently turned his face toward her. "Remember you're with me now."

Xander smiled at Cordelia. He still couldn't believe that by just rescuing Cordelia from Jesse how she wound up seeing him in a whole new light. He just hoped it lasted. "That reminds me," he said as he pulled out an I.D. bracelet and handed it to Cordelia. "Here's a little good luck thing for the tryouts ..."

"What is this?" Cordelia asked as a smile graced her lips.

"What is that?" Willow wondered.

Cordelia looked down at the bracelet and read what it said. "This is so sweet! _Yours always..._ "

"That was on there when I got it. Really. They all said that," Xander said.

Cordelia shook her head. "Yeah, if that makes you feel better, sure." She turned and watched Amber stand on one leg and hold the other straight up in the air and shook her head. "Just look at Amber. Who does she think she is, a Laker Girl?"

"I heard she turned them down," Dawn said.

Three cheerleaders walked up to the table and sat down as everyone waited. "Let's begin with ..." one of them said, "Amber Grove. If you're not auditioning move off the floor."

Dawn, Xander, Willow, Buffy and Cordelia all moved back off the floor.

"Hi Amy," Willow said spotting one of her old childhood friends.

"Hi," Amy replied.

"I didn't know you wanted to be a cheerleader. You lost a lot of weight," Willow said.

Amy nodded. "Had to."

"Do you know Buffy and Dawn?" Willow asked as she motioned toward the sisters.

"Hi," Amy said as she looked toward the sisters. "Oh how I hate this, let me count the ways."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige sighed as Giles shook his head looking at her. "Paige," he said. "I understand needing to have a normal life. But Buffy will never have it. You should understand that better than anyone. Being a Charmed One and half-witch, half-Whitelighter. Buffy herself will likely never live past her eighteenth birthday."

"What I understand is this, giving and giving till there is nothing left. Such as losing family to a demon. My eldest sister, Prue, died days before I was reunited with my birth family. You should have seen Piper afterwards, she was so angry. She nearly became a Fury. Buffy yes needs to keep things in perspective when it comes to her calling, her destiny. But she also needs as I already said, something outside of slaying. A reminder of what she is saving the world for. For me, my reminder has been my sisters, my brother-in-law, my nephews. I look back at what happened to Joyce. She was best friends with my birth mother and when my birth mother died. Joyce bound Buffy, Dawn and her own powers, because she couldn't handle it anymore. She didn't want her daughters to have to go through what she had. That was wrong; she should have trained them in the use of their powers. What I'm trying to say is that yes there will always be things that need her attention as either a Slayer or as a witch or even as a Whitelighter. But if she is to live past her eighteenth birthday, she needs things to ground her also, things to live for."

Giles let out a sigh. "I do understand where you are going. But this is a crucial time for Buffy."

"I'm not saying," Paige said, "we stop training her or she stops patrolling. Vampires and demons will always exist. For everyone Buffy vanquishes another vampire will rise somewhere in the world. We will train her to be prepared for her destiny. But what does she do once her destiny has been realized?"

"Again I do see your point," Giles said. "But I don't have an answer for that. Right now I say let's take it one day at a time. If she makes it onto the cheerleading squad let's use that as a test. See if she can balance having normal activities, a normal life, with her duties as the Slayer, as a witch."

"Fair enough," Paige said, "but if she can balance it."

"Then I would be more than willing to let her have some freedoms outside of her calling."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

As everyone watched they saw smoke beginning to emanate from Amber's pom-poms.

"What the ...?" Buffy asked.

"That girl's on fire," Willow said.

"Enough with the hyperbole," Cordelia said, she had her back turned to Amber and didn't see the smoke.

Amber dropped the pom-poms as everyone noticed the smoke was coming from her. And then suddenly her hands and forearms burst into flames! And then she screamed.

Buffy vaulted to a large Razorbacks banner hung on the wall of the gym and tore it down before turning and tackling Amber. As she wrapped Amber in the banner and began to smother the flames she gasped out as images flooded her mind.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"I've been slaying Vampires for more than a year now," Buffy said when they had rejoined Paige and Giles in the library. "I've seen some pretty cringeworthy stuff, but nobody's hands ever got toasted."

"I imagine not," Giles said.

"So this is not a vampire problem," Buffy said.

Paige shook her head. "Sounds like one of two possible explanations," she said. "One spontaneous combustion and two a witch, a dark witch at that."

"Spontaneous human combustion is rare, and scientifically unexplainable," Giles explained. "But there've been cases reported for hundreds of years. Usually all that's left is a pile of ashes."

"Which is why I mentioned witch," Paige said. "Buffy would never had the chance to save Amber as she would have gone up too fast."

"We still need to rule it out though," Buffy said, she hesitated to even mention the images she had seen when she had touched Amber. What did they mean? "Any common denominator in cases of spontaneous combustion?"

"Rage. In most cases the person who combusted was terribly angry or upset," Giles stated.

"So Paige could be correct," Cordelia said. "What if Amber is a witch like Buffy with the power to set herself be on fire."

"It's possible," Paige said.

"So I should get the skinny on Amber. See if she's had any colorful episodes before," Buffy said.

Willow smiled. "That means hacking illegally into the school's computer system – at last something I can do," she said as she moved to a computer.

"I'll ask around about her," Xander said.

"Guys, you don't have to get involved," Dawn told them.

"What do you mean? We're a team!" Xander told her. "Aren't we a team?"

Willow nodded. "Yeah, Buffy's the Slayer and we're like the slayerettes."

"I don't want you putting yourselves in danger," Buffy said.

Xander thought about a witty comeback, but then he glanced at Cordelia. She thought of him as her knight in shining armor. The witty comeback would just make her have doubts. And she was the first girl that had even shown an interest in him, besides Willow. But Willow he considered to be a sister.

"Buffy," Paige said. "You remember what I said to you a couple days ago about the Cleaners erasing memories?"

"And how they hadn't erased Willow and Xander's? That they may have a part in mine and Dawn's destinies?" Buffy asked as she sighed. She looked at her friends. "I'm glad you guys want to help. We can use all the help we can get." She looked to Giles and Paige. "What if we find out Amber didn't cause this herself?"

"Then we determine who the witch is that did," Paige said. "And deal with her accordingly."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

That evening Paige sat with her sisters in the living room. "You believe she wasn't telling you something?" Piper asked.

Paige nodded. "It was like she was holding something back. Something happened I think during the cheerleading tryouts other than the girl catching on fire. Something that shocked her."

"Could it be possible," Phoebe said, "that Buffy is the witch you and she are after?"

"That she set Amber ablaze," Paige said. "I can't believe she would do that intentionally."

"What if she didn't," Piper said. "If she is a firestarter ... Remember Tyler? He couldn't control his power at first either. Set fire to our own couch."

Paige sighed. "It's possible. I'll go talk to her." She orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Crates were strewn about the kitchen of the Summers home as Joyce opened them with a crowbar. She checked her inventory to make sure each artifact that the crate contained was there.

"Hey, Mom," Buffy and Dawn said as they dropped their schoolbooks on the table.

"Hi. How was school?" Joyce asked.

"A reverent joy. What's all this?" Buffy asked as she looked at their cluttered kitchen.

"It's for the tribal art display," Joyce said as Dawn picked up a statue and looked at it.

"Cool," the sisters said.

Buffy and Dawn sat at the table and watched their mother, who had yet to look up at them.

"We had tryouts today," Buffy said.

"Great! How'd it go?" Joyce asked.

"Buffy didn't actually get to try out," Dawn said. "There was an accident."

"Pretty fierce competition, though," Buffy added.

"I know you'll do fine. Keep on plugging. Just have to get back on the horse," Joyce said as tried to pry open a crate.

"Mom?" Buffy said.

Joyce finally looked up. "Yeah?"

"What was I trying out for?" Buffy asked.

"Um ... some activity?" Joyce said clearly stumped. "I have no idea, I'm sorry."

Buffy smiled. "That's okay. Your platitudes are good for all occasions."

"I'm distracted," Joyce said. "I've got a lot of inventory to go through here. This is the gallery's first major show." She looked to her daughters. "Buffy, would you mind?"

"Would it be considered personal gain?" Buffy asked.

"Maybe a little," Joyce said. "But how else are you going to learn to control your Whitelighter powers if you don't practice them?"

Buffy nodded and held out her hand. "Lid," she called out and the lid of the crate orbed off the crate and into her hand. She gently set it onto the table next to the crate.

"That's very good, Buffy," Dawn said. "I wish I could do that."

"It was cheerleading tryouts," Buffy said.

"Oh! Good. I'm glad you're taking that up again," Joyce said just as Paige orbed in. "Paige?"

"I have to ask Buffy something," Paige said. "When Amber caught on fire. Were you doing anything in particular?"

"What do you mean?" Dawn asked. "Buffy was standing beside me."

"Piper and Phoebe had a thought that it might possible that you are a firestarter," Paige said as Joyce held a hand to her face in shock.

"Mom?" Buffy and Dawn said.

"Firestarters are very rare witches," Joyce said. "Traditionally they were used to guard the Source."

"Which is no longer the case since Piper, Phoebe and I vanquished the Source," Paige told them. "Buffy were you angry at Amber?"

"No," Buffy said. "Why would I be?"

"I don't know," Paige said with a sigh. "But a new power …"

"But we haven't discovered what my witch power is yet," Buffy said.

"Well was there anything unusual that happened during that time?" Paige asked.

"Well, I had a Slayer dream while awake," Buffy said.

"A Slayer dream?" Paige asked.

"Merrick told Buffy when she told him she had dreams, mostly of past vampires that had gone up against Lothos," Dawn said, "that they were Slayer dreams that every Slayer gets them."

"I wonder," Paige said. "I'll be right back." She then orbed out and into Giles apartment. "Rupert."

Giles startled looked up from the book he was reading. "Paige, what brings you by?"

"Do Slayers get prophetic dreams of either the past or the future?"

"Not that I'm aware of, why?" Giles replied.

"Dawn said that Buffy got what was called Slayer dreams," Paige explained. "That Merrick had told them that every Slayer got them."

"And these dreams are prophetic in nature?" Giles asked.

Paige nodded as she sat down. "That's right."

"I would hazard to guess we may have discovered what Buffy's power is."

"You think she has the power of premonition?" Paige asked. "But how did she have these so called prophetic dreams before her powers were unbound."

"When Buffy became the Slayer, whatever makes her a Slayer may have found a way around the spell that had bound her powers," Giles theorized.

"If that is true you may be right," Paige said. "And Buffy had a premonition when she touched Amber today."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because she said she had a slayer dream while awake during the tryouts."

"Did she seem a little hesitant to you when we were talking about this girl, Amber?" Giles asked.

"That's what got me coming back to Sunnydale tonight," Paige said. "I was talking to my sisters, they thought Buffy might have been a firestarter, that she had accidentally used her power on Amber. Then when I talked to Buffy and Dawn she revealed the information that she had one of these so called Slayer dreams."

"You should go back and ask Buffy about this premonition," Giles suggested. "It may lead us to the culprit of the attack."

"Agreed," Paige said as she orbed out. She orbed back into the kitchen to find her charges were not there. She found them in the living room. "I think we know what Buffy's power is. And she has had it since she was called as a Slayer."

"What are you talking about?" Joyce wondered. "Buffy's powers as well as mine and Dawn's were bound remember?"

"Rupert theorized that whatever made Buffy a Slayer found a loophole in your binding spell. It gave her in the form of a dream her power of Premonition," Paige said as she looked at the sisters. "Rupert told me there is no such thing as Slayer dreams, that Merrick may have, well not lied because he didn't know the truth, but told you the only plausible explanation he could come with. That the Slayer had given you these dreams."

"So that's what my power is, premonition?" Buffy asked.

"Yes," Paige said. "You can see the future and on rare occasions the past. Just like when you faced Lothos. Buffy, I have to ask, what it is you saw?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Buffy said. "I saw a person, maybe a girl, but I couldn't tell for sure. The girl wore a black cloak with the hood up, and she was casting a spell of some sort. I didn't hear the actual words."

"It sounds like it might be a witch," Joyce said. "Someone who wanted protect herself from Buffy's power or another witch who had the power of premonition. So she hid what she looked like to be on the safe side."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I had debated giving Buffy another power, an active power instead of a passive power. But when it came to the episode The Witch I knew with Buffy and Dawn being witches that alone would change things. For one Giles' test to detect a witch. There was never a mention in Charmed of a way to test to see if someone was a witch, doesn't mean there wasn't one either of course. So how would I work around that issue, then I thought about the Slayer dreams, which Buffy had in the early seasons (in later seasons they pretty much disappear) and I thought I'd use my explanation that I used in Another Halliwell where the Slayer Dreams are actually her Premonition power acting while she was asleep. This gets Buffy the information she needs to find out Amy is the witch later in this arc.


	6. Chapter 6: The Witch Part 2

**Chapter 6: The Witch Part 2**

"Despite the terrible thing that happened yesterday ..." one of the cheerleaders at the judges table said, "... we still have to pick new cheerleaders. If you make the team, you'll find your name posted in the Quad after lunch. Let's begin with group performance - Cordelia, Buffy, Amy, Morgan, Janice and Lishanne."

The five girls walked to the center of the gym.

"Why do my hands have to sweat when I get nervous?" Amy asked.

Buffy smiled. "Don't worry, you'll do great." She looked around at the others wondering if one of them was the witch. If Paige was right and she did receive premonitions. She hoped she would accidentally bump into one of them and discovers which one it was.

As someone hit play on the tape player the girls performed a choreographed cheer while yelling out the cheer itself.

Amy missed one of the synchronized moves and bumped into Cordelia.

"You saw that, right? That wasn't me," Cordelia said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

After the end of tryouts Amy, still in her cheerleader outfit, stood before a trophy display case as she looked down at a picture. Buffy exited the locker room and walked up to Amy. She looked down at the photo that Amy was staring at.

"That's my mom," Amy said.

"No..." Buffy said as she read the name off the placard. "Catherine Madison. Get down with your bad self."

"Her nickname was Catherine The Great: she took that team and made them tri-county champions, no one's ever done that before or since. She and my dad were homecoming King and Queen, got married right after graduation," Amy explained.

"That's kinda romantic," Buffy said.

"Well ... he was a big loser, couldn't make any money, took off with Miss Trailer Trash when I was twelve."

Buffy shook her head. "Okay, that part's less romantic. My mom and step-dad split up, too. Neither myself or my mom knew that my step-dad was not my real dad. Not till recently anyways. We looked him, he's a nice a guy, has a wife and two sons."

"Drag, huh," Amy said. "My dad left my mom with nothing. She put herself through cosmetology school, bought me everything I ever wanted and never gained a single pound ..."

"She sounds great, Amy, but that doesn't mean you have to, you know, lock step as far as the cheerleading thing –"

Amy turned to Buffy as tears began to fill her eyes. "It's just, she was the best, and I can't get my body to move like hers. I choked in there so bad." She turned and headed for the locker room passing Willow. "... I gotta get changed ..." she called back to Buffy.

"Hi Amy ..." Willow said as the door closed behind Amy. "She okay?"

"She's wiggin' about her mother ..." Buffy said as she motioned toward the photo. "... the big cheer queen back when."

Willow nodded in understanding. "Yeah. Her mom's kinda ..."

"Nazi-like?" Buffy asked.

"Heil. If she gains an ounce she padlocks the fridge and won't eat anything but broth."

Buffy sighed. "So Mommie Dearest is really ... Mommie Dearest."

"There's a bitter streak—but Amy's nice. We used to hang in Junior High. When her mom'd go on a broth kick Amy'd come to my house and we'd just stuff ourselves with brownies."

"What did you find out on Amber?"

"Nothing thrilling," Willow said as she pulled a paper out of her bag. "Average student—got detention once for smoking—regular smoking, with a cigarette. Not being smoky. All pretty normal."

"So either this is a power she has difficulty controlling when she gets excited and in the excitement of the tryouts she loses control," Buffy said. "Or she's not the witch we're looking for."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy, Dawn, Willow and Xander walk through the crowds after lunch waiting for the cheerleaders to post the list of who made it on the cheerleading squad. They noticed a cheerleader moving towards the bulletin board, list in hand as girls began to gather.

"Hey, they're posting the list!" Xander said as they came up beside Amy and Cordelia.

"I can't take this ..." Amy said.

"Spot me, I'm goin' in," Xander said as he dove into the throng. He worked his way to the front. He read down finding Buffy, Cordelia and Amy's names. A second later he emerged from the throng. "Cordy, you made it.

"You're lucky," Cordelia said to Amy.

"What about me?" Amy asked Xander. "Did I make it?"

"You made it also and so did you Buffy," he said. "Buffy you are first alternate and Amy you are third alternate."

Amy looked down in defeat as she turned and walked off.

"What better way to celebrate than with a romantic drive-through for two at –" Xander started to say to Cordelia

"Xander, alternates are the ones who didn't make the team," Willow interrupted. "They only fill in if something happens to the ones who did."

"Excuse me," Buffy said as she walked over to Amy who had only moved about ten feet.

"For I am Xander, King of the Cretins, and all lesser cretins must bow before me," Xander said.

"That's alright, Xander," Dawn said. "You didn't know."

"At least it's over," Buffy told Amy. "And you know what I think we should do about it? Brownie pig-out, my house, now."

Amy sighed. "How many more hours a day can I practice? How much more can I do? This would never have happened to my mom. Never." She turned and ran off as Buffy watched her.

"Buffy!"

Buffy turned to see Paige heading across the quad.

"Anything?" Paige asked when she had reached her charge.

"No," Buffy said with a sigh. "But one thing we know for sure is that according to Willow, Amber doesn't have a history, at least as far as the school is concerned, with a power that is uncontrollable. Of course that doesn't prove anything. But if she had this power someone would have likely seen it before now."

"Not unless the Cleaners erased their memories of it," Paige said. "Have you asked around to see what people remember of yesterday?"

"No," Buffy said. "I didn't think to."

"I did," Paige said. "The banner you used is back in its place and looks as if it was not used to smother the flames. Also the people I talked to said you ran up to Amber before yelling at someone to call 911. It is now being reported that Amber broke her leg."

"These cleaners must not take events sometimes into account," Buffy said. "Amber was stretching beforehand. She wouldn't have broken her leg that easily."

"I agree but that is what everyone is saying," Paige said. "So other than you, Xander, Willow, Dawn, Giles, myself and this witch. No one remembers that Amber had caught on fire."

"So we start asking to see …" Buffy started to ask.

"No," Paige said. "This witch would realize the cleaners did their job and would make sure to follow the story that everyone else has been talking about. We'll have to hope you get another premonition on who she is."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige woke the next morning to find Phoebe and Piper down in the kitchen sipping on cups of coffee. "Anymore left?" she asked.

"Help yourself," Piper said.

Paige moved over to the coffee maker and poured herself a cup before sitting beside her sisters.

"Anything on this witch?" Phoebe asked.

"No," Paige said with a shake of her head. "And Buffy has gotten no new premonitions either. The one she got suggests the witch knew that someone might try and discover her through a power like Buffy's or maybe through telepathy or a scrying power. We had hoped another victim might bump into Buffy and she might get another premonition. But there were no other victims."

"Which makes it possible," Piper said. "That the girl that was attack may have been the only target."

"It's possible," Paige sighed as she took a sip of her coffee. "If it was, then it is likely we may not find the witch."

"Regardless," Piper said. "It might not be a bad idea to make a binding potion. "I'll get started on it and have it ready for if or when you call needing it. Then all you have to do is orb me to Sunnydale and I will freeze the witch long enough to force the potion down her throat."

"Sounds like a plan," Paige said with a smile. "Well I better get to Sunnydale." She finished the last of her coffee and then orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Cordy?" Xander said as he walked between Cordelia, who is walking more slowly and a little less regally than usual, and Willow toward Cordelia's locker.

"I … I'm not sure," Cordelia replied.

Willow let out a sigh and shook her head. She still could not understand how Cordelia and Xander had become a couple. Oh she knew how, sure. But she and he had both been part of the _I Hate Cordelia_ group. Now it seemed she was alone in that group. And she also realized that her crush on Xander was very likely futile at this moment.

Just then Buffy rounded the corner as Cordelia stopped at her locked and reached for the combination dial, she stumbled slightly before finding it.

"Cordy?" Xander said again as Buffy stopped next to him.

"Xander?" Cordelia said. "I … I think … I'm." She turned to face them and as she did her eyes went suddenly and startlingly white. "Blind. Oh god, I can't see."

Buffy laid a hand on Cordelia as she tried to comfort the girl. "We'll find the …" she started to say as she gasped. In her mind she saw the witch again with a doll dressed as a cheerleader. The witch dropped the doll and then pulled back the hood of her robe and smiled. "Amy," she said as her premonition ended. "The witch is Amy."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Blinding your enemy to disable and disorient them is a classic," Giles said ten minutes later in the library, "for a dark witch who is not concerned about personal gain."

"It is likely that the cleaners have already modified everyone's memories to make people think Cordelia was always blind," Paige said. "If we can reverse the witch's magic it will reverse the physical effects, Cordelia will see again."

"What about Amber's hands?" Dawn asked.

"With the broken foot story," Paige said. "They would have had to alter reality so that her hands were not burned. That spell is one that won't need to be reversed. The only way to reverse these spells though is with Amy's book. Okay, Rupert you take Dawn and Buffy to Amy's house. Get her book. I'm going to orb to San Francisco and get Piper who has been brewing a binding potion. Once Piper uses her power on the witch, we will be able to force the potion down her throat and bind her powers." She then orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige orbed into the kitchen to find Piper standing before a pot on the stove. "Is it ready?"

"Just about," Piper replied. "Did you find the witch?"

"Another student was attacked," Paige explained. "A friend of Buffy's, Cordelia. She went blind. But when Buffy touched Cordelia to comfort her, she got a premonition. Saw who it was. She, Dawn and Rupert are going to get Amy's, that's the witch's name, book. We'll meet them back at the school where Dawn will cast the reversal spells while you standby to freeze, I will have the binding potion in hand and Buffy will keep her distracted."

"Good idea," Piper agreed.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Giles knocked on the front door of Amy's house as Buffy and Dawn peeked through a window by the door. The sisters saw Amy's mom, Catherine, start at the sound of the knocking and then sliding something under a table before getting up and moving toward the door.

Buffy and Dawn step back from the window beside Giles as the door opened to reveal Catherine.

"What do you want? Is there something wrong?" Catherine asked.

"Mrs. Madison, we need to talk to you about your daughter," Giles said.

Catherine shook her head. "I'm not allowed to—you'll have to come back," she said as she tried to shut the door.

Buffy using the slightest of Slayer strength forced the door back open as she, Giles and Dawn rushed inside.

"Your daughter is up to something very dangerous," Giles asked. "Are you aware of that?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Catherine said.

Dawn shook her head. "I doubt that, after all she is your daughter."

"You have to go. She's gonna be home soon."

"There is a girl that is now blind at school. Another was burned," Giles said. "So you will shut up and you will listen to us."

"Your daughter," Dawn said, "is a powerful dark witch. Somehow your obsession with cheerleading has made her –"

"I don't care about cheerleading!" Catherine said as tears began to form. "It's not my fault she's doing stuff."

Buffy frowned as she stared intently at Catherine.

"As her mother, you should accept some responsibility for her actions," Giles said.

Surprisingly, Catherine started laughing. "Well, these kids today ..."

Buffy looked at Catherine and then took a step back to see what was under the table. "Dawn?"

Dawn moved beside Buffy and looked under the table and saw a plate of brownies. She looked to Catherine. "You're Amy," she and Buffy said simultaneously.

Catherine took a step back, her eyes wide in shock at being discovered.

"I don't understand ..." Giles said.

"Mrs. Madison," Dawn said, "switched bodies with Amy."

Buffy moved the table aside and picked up the plate of brownies. "Only a child afraid of their parent might hide them. An adult wouldn't have reason to. Amy's mom stole Amy's body and put Amy in her own." She looked at Amy. "She wanted to relive her glory days. Catherine the Great."

"Good lord ..." Giles said.

Catherine nodded, quietly. "She said I was wasting my youth ... So she took it," she said as she sat down on the couch. "I didn't know about her ... her power. When my dad was here they would fight, he called her a witch. I thought he meant something else. When he left I wanted to go with him but she wouldn't even let me call. She got crazy. She'd lock herself upstairs for days. And she'd get down on me all the time. She said I didn't deserve to have it so easy, that I didn't know how hard it was to be her. I guess she showed me, huh?"

"Amy, it's gonna be okay," Dawn said.

"A few months ago I woke up in her bed, I didn't know where I was ... and I looked in the mirror ..."

"She locked herself upstairs," Giles said. "Where?"

"She has a room in the attic," Catherine said.

"Make sense," Buffy said. "Paige said her family kept their book in the attic. Not many people would look for it up there. They would tend to look for it in the public areas of the house."

"Show us," Giles said.

Amy showed them up stairs to the attic door. It was locked. Buffy using her slayer strength forced the door open.

Giles followed Buffy and Dawn into the attic as Catherine stood in the doorway.

"If she finds out I've been in here she'll kill me," Catherine said.

"My God ..." Giles said as he looked at the dolls. "I believe we can reverse your mother's spell. All of them, in fact."

"You really could?" Catherine asked.

"Yes," Buffy said. "But we need her book. Where would she keep her book of shadows?"

"I … I don't know," Catherine said.

Giles, Buffy and Dawn rummaged around the attic till they found a trunk.

As Giles went to open the trunk he said to Dawn, "Collect the dolls and anything else you think we'll need." Just as he opened the trunk a cat sprang at him from its depths, screeching and forcing Giles to jump back as the cat hit the floor and ran out of the room. "Nice kitty ..." he said as he looked in the trunk. "What were you guarding? Yes ..." he reached in and pulled out the book of shadows. "This is it."

They along with Catherine drove back to the school where they found Paige waiting with Piper.

"Good you have her book," Paige said. "We can reverse her magic. Now who do we have here?"

"This is Amy," Dawn said. "The real Amy, Mrs. Madison switched bodies."

Piper looked towards her sister. "We might be able to reverse that spell ourselves. Remember the soul switching potion you made when you were first learning."

"Of course," Paige said. "I'll orb back to the Manor and get the ingredients." She orbed out and thirty minutes later she orbed back in. "Got them." She looked to Dawn. "While I make this potion. I need you to reverse Mrs. Madison's spells." She then handed a potion to Giles. "Piper is going to freeze and we're going to need you to force that down Mrs. Madison's throat once her soul is back in her body."

"Got it," Giles said as he took the potion from Paige.

"Buffy you need to keep Catherine distracted once the spell is reversed," Paige said.

Paige began working on her potion as Dawn worked over another. When she looked at the book it mentioned a chant. "Paige," she said. "This doesn't look like a spell you mentioned."

"Interesting," Paige said. "The spell calls on Hecate. I don't think … Piper?"

Piper moved next to the book and read the spell that went with the potion Dawn was making. "Your right," she said. "I've never seen such a spell before. Of course this is the first time since …" and then she stopped as she remembered the Grimoire. "Paige, touch the book."

Paige looked at her sister and saw the look on Piper's face. Piper knew something. She reached down and touched the book.

"As I thought," Piper said. "Remember the Grimoire. It could protect itself from good. A dark witch would have had similar protection on her book. Buffy, Dawn, did either of you touch this book?"

"No," Buffy said. "Giles picked it up. Why?"

"I believe that the witch is a progenitor, not an actual dark witch. She can still cast spells and may even have limited powers but she is not a gifted witch like the four of us. If she was her book would likely have a way of protecting itself from us."

"What does that mean?" Dawn wondered.

"That Amy is the gifted witch," Paige said realizing where Piper was going. She looked at Catherine. "That you have powers. If your mother is progenitor, you are the gifted. The start of our magical family line was Charlotte Warren, she was a progenitor. Her daughter Melinda was gifted and the powers me and my sister have were passed down from Melinda. It is very likely that you may be gifted yourself and that your mother may have at one time bound your powers and then unbound them when she stole your body. Which means you will likely be assigned a Whitelighter the moment you are back in your own body."

Paige looked back at her the soul swapping potion. "Okay. Now it's time for the last ingredient," she said as she picked up the powdered toadstool and held out her hand to Catherine. "Only you can add it. Speak clearly that you want to be you again."

Catherine nodded as she took the ingredient and let out a sigh. "I want to be me again," she said as she dropped the powdered toadstool into the bubbling potion. She swooned for a second and then looked around confused.

"Catherine Madison," Buffy said, drawing Catherine's attention to her. "Good your back in your own body. Piper, now!"

Piper lifted her hands and froze Catherine as Giles rushed over to Catherine and forced the potion down her throat. As he stepped away Catherine unfroze and sputtered. "What did you do?" she asked.

"We pound your magic," Paige said. "And we've also called social services, who should be at your house momentarily getting evidence to have your daughter taken from you for abuse."

Catherine muttered a spell and found her magic had truly been bound. As the spell that she cast didn't even work for her. In the face of other witches, she knew that she could not win. Not as a mortal anyways. She turned and ran out of the room passing Amy, Xander and Willow as they entered.

"It worked," Amy said as she smiled.

"Now just to reverse the spell on Cordelia," Dawn said. "The center is dark. The darkness breathes. The listener hears." She threw in an ingredient. "Hear me. Unlock the gate, let the darkness shine. Cover us with holy fear. Show me. Corsheth, and Gilail, the gate is closed. Receive the dark, release the unworthy ... Take of mine energy and be sated!" She plunged her hands into the potion. She pulled her hands back out. "Be sated! Release the unworthy! Release!"

"Are you okay?" Buffy asked Amy.

"I'm fine," Amy said feelingly. "And happy to be back in my own body."

"We called social services," Piper said. "While we were waiting on you guys to arrive. You won't have to go back to her."

"I think Cordy's blindness has been reversed," Dawn said. "Of course it was my first spell casting, I may have got it wrong."

"Seeing how it is unlike anything we've ever seen before," Paige said. "Who knows for sure."

"I'll check on Cordy," Xander said. "She's still in the library." He turned and left the room.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Several days later Buffy and Amy are walked through the hall.

"Dad is so impossible," Amy said. "He doesn't ever want me going anywhere, wants to spend total quality time together. I'm like, _Dad, I can go out, it's perfectly safe_. He's got all this guilt at leaving me with mom and he's being a total pain."

Buffy smiled. "You're loving it."

Amy nodded. "Every single minute."

Cordelia nodded to Buffy, who smiled at her friend, as she and the other cheerleaders walked past. Cordelia could see again and Amber no longer had a _broken foot_ or burned hands. They were both recovered from their ordeal, and only Cordelia seemed to remember any of it.

"Hey," Cordelia said as the other cheerleaders walked off leaving the three of them alone in the middle of the hall. "Hey, I'm really sorry you guys got bumped back to alternate."

"Well, I know I'll miss the intellectual thrill of spelling words out with my arms," Amy said sarcastically. "Really I'm interested, never was. That was all my mom."

"I know," Cordelia said. "Talking about her, have you seen her lately?"

Amy shook her head. "She left town, she didn't even go back to the house to get any clothes or anything. I think its safe to say till she finds a way to unbind her magic, she won't be back."

"That's good," Cordelia said.

"Regardless, I'm just happy to have my body back. I'm thinking of getting fat," Amy said as the three of them continued down the hall.

"Well, that look is in for spring," Buffy said as the three of them laughed.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** The next chapter is the Charmed Episode Scry Hard. Just to note this won't be like Another Halliwell or Last Halliwell where every other chapter is one from either series or the other. The story takes place mostly on the Buffy side of things. But just as there are guest appearances of Phoebe or Piper along with Paige and Leo in BTVS episodes the reverse will be true for some of the major episodes of Charmed such as the season 7 finale, and the season 8 premiere. Scry Hard is for Buffy though an introduction more or less to the family and the Charmed version of demons.


	7. Chapter 7: Scry Hard Part 1

**Chapter 7: Scry Hard Part 1**

The attic door opened as Leo and Piper walked through it into the attic.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Mm-hmm," Piper said.

"Surprise!" He removed his hands from Piper's eyes and showed her the _new and improved_ attic.

Piper looked around at the changes Leo made. Everything is nice and neat and in its place, a far cry from the clutter and mess it was before. "Wow!"

"Isn't it great?" Leo asked.

"Um ... it's ... it's something," Piper said.

Leo sighed. "You hate it."

"No ... no. I don't hate anything. It's just, um ... the dining room ... and then the living room ... and, you know, when you rearranged the kitchen, I did kind of hate that."

"Piper, you're always complaining about what a mess it is up here," Leo said as Phoebe entered the attic.

"Woah," Phoebe said.

"Yeah, I know, but it's an attic. And it's supposed to be messy. Sweetie, it's not that I don't appreciate you helping around the house, because I do, really. It's just, um ... it's just a little much," Piper said as she walked over to the shelves.

Just then they heard someone orbing into the attic and turned to see Paige and Buffy.

"Hey, dad," Buffy said as Leo wrapped his arms around her.

"Phoebe, I'd like you to meet Buffy Sum…" Leo said as he steered his daughter toward Phoebe.

"Wyatt," Buffy said. "Buffy Wyatt. That's unofficial right now though. I plan to change my name when I turn eighteen and Hank no longer has to pay child support on me. Then I can change it."

Leo nodded. "That's up to you, Buffy. But I would be amiss if I didn't say I was proud that you wanted to have my name."

"So Buffy," Piper said as she hugged the teenager. "Are you ready to spend the weekend with your father?"

"You bet," Buffy said as she smiled at her father. "Thought Piper, I hope your not offended if I don't call you mom. It just feels weird you know."

"You can call me Leo," Leo said, "if you prefer."

"That's alright, Dad," Buffy said. "You are my father and while yes it is a little weird with our age different, physical age difference, I know you're really over fifty years old. I still want to call you, dad, okay, dad?"

"Okay," Leo said.

"It was nice to finally meet you, Buffy," Phoebe said. "I need to be at work."

"Want me to give you a lift?" Paige asked. "I need to head over to Magic School anyways. Got some backlog I need to deal with since I haven't been in since I started working in Sunnydale."

"Sure," Phoebe said as she moved next to her baby sister and took Paige's hand.

"Call me if you need me," Paige said as she orbed out with Phoebe.

"I'm sure you would like to meet your brothers," Piper said as she led Buffy toward the door.

Just then between Piper and Buffy and the door a demon shimmered in. He threw a boomerang grazing Leo and then the demon shimmered out.

The boomerang returned back from whence it came and lodged in the attic door.

"That was weird," Buffy said and then she noticed her father holding his shoulder. "Dad, you okay?"

"I'm fine," Leo said as he pulled the boomerang from the wall and walked toward the Book of Shadows.

"What are you doing?" Piper asked.

"I'm going to I.D. that demon," Leo said.

"Dad, you really should sit down while Piper goes to get some bandages and antiseptic," Buffy said.

Leo glanced at his wounded arm. "It's just a scratch," he said before looking at the boomerang with more interest. "I think this crescent might be tribal."

"You're not listening to Buffy or I," Piper said. "You're not vanquishing anybody."

"Why not?" Leo asked.

Piper and Buffy each took Leo by the hand and led him to the couch where the three of them sat down.

"Well, for one thing, because you can't self-heal anymore. Hunting demons is dangerous," Piper said.

"Okay, well, you can't self-heal either," Leo said. "And it doesn't stop you."

"Dad," Buffy said, "Piper and I both have powers. She can freeze things …"

"And blow things up," Piper added.

"And I'm also a Slayer besides being a witch and Whitelighter," Buffy continued. "I have increased strength, agilty, an enhanced healing rate."

Leo sighed. "Yeah. I noticed."

"Leo ..." Piper said.

"Look, I don't know why you two are making such a big deal out of this," he said.

"Because we don't want to lose you, Dad," Buffy said. "Right, Piper?"

"Right, Buffy," Piper agreed.

"Well, demons try to kill us almost every week. What do you two want me to do, go hide in Magic School?" Leo asked.

"It's a thought," Piper said with a nod.

Leo sighed. "I was kidding."

"Well, I'm not," Piper said.

"I don't know where this Magic School is or what it is," Buffy said. "But I just found you, Dad, I don't want to lose you."

"Also," Piper added, "It's great that you gave up your powers to be with us and everything, but things are gonna have to change. You've only got one life to live, and I'd like you to start taking care of it."

"Well, I didn't become mortal to go run and hide," Leo said. "I'm staying put."

"Leo, please –" Piper said.

"Dad," Buffy said.

Leo shook his head. "I made up my mind."

Piper looked to Buffy who resignedly nodded. She looked back at Leo and grabbed his arm as she pressed a cloth to his wound.

"Ow!"

"Well, I have to clean it, don't I?" Piper asked.

"Da-da."

They all looked to see Wyatt in the attic doorway.

"Hey, little guy," Buffy said as she walked over to Wyatt and knelt down. "You must be, Wyatt. I'm your big sis, Buffy."

Forgetting about his wound, Leo stood and moved beside Buffy, he knelt down next to her. "Hey, hey. Look, everything's okay," he said as she showed Wyatt his wound. "Look, see? It's just a scratch, okay? Yeah. It's nothing."

Piper and Buffy watched as Leo embraced Wyatt in a hug.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige sat her desk at Magic School working on scheduling trying to figure out a schedule with her Whitelighter duties in Sunnydale, her job in Sunnydale and her job at Magic School. Just then Piper walked through the door into the study.

"Busy?" Piper asked.

Paige looked up at her sister and sighed. "Just trying to figure out the scheduling; between being Buffy, Dawn and Joyce's Whitelighter, being Rupert's assistant in Sunnydale and being headmistress here. I don't know when I even have time for you guys anymore."

"You'll figure it out," Piper said.

"So what's up?"

"A demon attacked Leo," Piper said.

"What?" Paige asked. "Is he okay?"

Piper sighed as she sat down in the chair across Paige's desk. "He's fine, but I need you to scry with that thing and then vanquish the demon. I'd do it myself, but I have to get home and help Buffy protect Leo."

"Why didn't you just bring both Buffy and Leo here?" Paige wondered.

"Leo's being stubborn," Piper said. "Hence why Buffy is still there. She is a witch remember?"

"With no active power," Paige reminded her. "And still in training."

"Well the Slayer side of her will make up for that till she has learned more."

"Till she gets a handle on telekinetic orbing," Paige said. "She won't have a way to defend herself if a fireball is thrown at her. You have to remember, Piper, she has never dealt with demons like the ones we've fought. Most demons that are attracted to the Hellmouth are low level. She hasn't even faced a Warlock yet. Anyways back to Leo. Being human is a big adjustment for him. We are also going to have to adjust to the fact that he can't heal us anymore."

"Or himself," Piper added. "And I don't want to keep forcing Wyatt to tap into his powers before he's ready."

"Why not?" Paige asked. "He healed you before."

"Yeah. With some help. But we can't keep traumatizing him like that. We've got to find another way. So, you can handle all this?"

"Absolutely," Paige said.

Piper stood up and headed for the door. "Uh, you might want to call Phoebe. That thing is probably from some sort of tribe."

"Got it. All over it," Paige said. "I might call Joyce also; having someone who can turn invisible would help."

"Good thinking," Piper agreed. "And thanks for the help."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy sat next to Leo and Wyatt in front of a dollhouse as her littlest brother, Chris, sat in his playpen nearby.

"That's the attic, very good," Leo said to Wyatt. "That's where we are right now. What's this right here?" he pointed toward where his and Piper's room was. Wyatt motioned toward him in response. "That's mommy and daddy's room, right."

Chris gave off an excited squeal as Buffy looked at him and smiled. She got up and got Chris and held him as she sat back down.

Leo looked to Buffy and smiled. He couldn't be happier that she was taking the adjustment of being a big sister to two boys she hadn't met before today so easily.

"Hey. Hey ... everything all right?" Piper asked as she entered the attic.

Leo nodded. "Yeah. Yeah. Why wouldn't it be?"

"Well, you know, seeing as how a demon tried to K-I-L-L you ..." Piper said.

"Right. Uh ... well, I'm fine," he said.

Piper glanced at Buffy a brief smiled appeared on her lips at the sight of her step-daughter holding her son. She looked back at Leo and the smile vanished. "Why are you so defensive?"

"Oh, guess maybe I feel like I have something to prove," Leo said.

Buffy sighed. "Dad, we were just trying to protect you. You're mortal now remember?"

Leo nodded. "I know," he said with a meaningful glance between Piper and Buffy telling them he knew why Buffy had stayed with him the entire time. "But you two don't need to be."

"Obviously, we do," Piper said.

"Yeah, Dad," Buffy agreed near tears. "I just found out about you two weeks ago. I don't want to lose you before I get a chance to know you." She put Chris back in the playpen as she got up and moved toward the door as Piper followed her.

"Piper, Buffy, wait," Leo said as he looked at Wyatt. "Me, mommy and your big sister have to have a grown-up conversation, okay? I'll be right back." He got up and followed Piper and Buffy out of the attic.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige, Phoebe and Joyce orbed into the underworld in search of the demon who threw the boomerang at Leo.

Joyce let out a sigh. "Paige, I'm thankful for you unbinding my powers, but I still don't know that I'm ready for this."

"You are, Joyce," Paige said. "Besides Phoebe and I will be doing most of the vanquishing. I thought you might be useful with your invisibility. Talking about which, can you make others invisible also."

"As long as they are touching me, yes," Joyce said.

"By the way, we have ten minutes," Phoebe said.

"What?" Paige said.

"I told them I'd be right back."

"Told who?" Joyce asked.

"Her editor Elise more than likely," Paige said. "Phoebe works for the Bay Mirror as the advice columnist." She looked toward her older sister. "And it's gonna take what it's gonna take."

Phoebe sighed. "Yeah, I know, but I have a deadline. Do you know how much work goes into one edition? And I can't believe Elise just dropped –"

"Phoebe, focus," Paige said.

"Okay, so now what do we do?" Phoebe asked.

"Good question," Joyce said as she took Phoebe and Paige's hands and they faded from view.

"Uh, I don't know," Paige said as they began to walk down the tunnel.

Just then Zankou flamed in front of them. "Greetings."

"He can see us?" Paige asked.

"No I can't," Zankou said. "But I can see where you have been." He motioned to their tracks behind them.

Joyce released Phoebe and Paige's hands so the sisters would be ready to fight if necessary.

"Zankou," Phoebe said. "What are you doing here? Paige, what is he doing here?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" Paige asked.

"Where's your, uh, other sister, Piper?" Zankou asked. "And who is this new witch?"

"Joyce," Joyce said. "I'm one of …"

"Why do you want to know?" Paige interrupted with a glance at Joyce saying sorry.

"I have my reasons," Zankou said.

"Okay, look, we'd love to stay and chat, but we have business that we need to attend to," Phoebe said.

"I know," he snapped his fingers and three demons appeared behind him.

"This is gonna take longer than ten minutes," Paige said as she and Phoebe threw their potions at Zankou, who ducked and the bottles hit the demons behind him, vanquishing them.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Leo walked down the stairs and found Buffy watching Piper watering the planets in the living room. "Why are you two so mad at me?" he asked.

"Because you're going to get yourself killed," Piper said as Buffy nodded in agreement. "That's why."

"But—well, I can handle myself," Leo said.

"Really, Dad," Buffy said. "The way you handled yourself earlier when the demon attacked."

"Yeah. You know, I could have handled that," Leo said as Piper moved to another planet.

"How?" Piper and Buffy asked simultaneously.

"Oh, you know, I would've thought of something."

"Well, I'm so glad you would've thought of something," Piper said. "And now neither I nor Buffy have to worry."

"Okay. It was good that you both were there, but that doesn't give either of you the right to protect me without my knowing about it," Leo remarked reminding them he knew why Buffy had stayed with him while Piper had gone to Magic School.

"We were trying to protect you, Dad," Buffy said.

"Well, okay, but I'm supposed to protect the both of you."

"Is that what all this is about?" Piper wondered.

Leo nodded. "It's part of it. Look, it's my instinct to protect you, Piper, as well as you, Buffy. And the reason I don't hide from demons is because I've never had to."

"I think Piper and I both realize that," Buffy said with a sigh. "But that was back when you weren't mortal either."

"It's good you both realize that, but Wyatt doesn't. You know, and now he's seen me get hurt. And I don't want that to hurt him," he said with a sigh.

Piper nodded. "Okay, look, we are going to get through this."

"I'm in agreement, Dad," Buffy agreed.

"I know we are," Leo said to the both of them. "But Piper, you, yourself, said it was going to take time, okay? And when I do, I need you both to be supporting me, you know, not drowning the plants."

"Well, I guess we all have our own ways of dealing with things," Piper said.

"She has a point," Buffy said. "If I could orb already, I likely would have went back to Sunnydale, found a nest and worked out my frustrations on some vampires."

Suddenly Craven and two demons appeared in the conservatory. Their backs are to Piper, Buffy and Leo. They turned around and appeared very surprised to find Buffy, Piper and Leo there in the manor.

"What are you doing here?!" Craven asked.

Piper waved her hands and blasted two of the demons just as Craven dives out of the way.

"Dining room," Leo said.

"We saw where he went," Buffy said as she was already moving in that direction.

"Stay here," Piper said.

"Buffy," Leo said. "Be careful. This is an upper level, not like those you faced."

"I got that, Dad," Buffy said as Piper followed her. They turned a corner expecting to see Craven, but found he was gone. "Let's split up. We have a better chance of finding him."

"Agreed," Piper said. "And do as your father said and be careful."

"Promise," Buffy said as she smiled at Piper as they turned in different directions.

In the sitting room Leo heard footsteps on the stairs. "Wyatt," he said as he moved toward the stairs. He turned into the main hallway and saw a shadow on the floor. He looked up and saw Wyatt standing at the top of the stairs. "Wyatt, get upstairs."

Craven standing in the conservatory took out a boomerang and threw it.

Piper stepped out from behind Craven as she noticed the boomerang. "Leo!" she shouted.

Buffy turned at the sound of Piper's voice and started running back towards Leo.

Piper blasted Craven, hitting him in the arm and only wounding him as he fell to the floor.

The boomerang hit Leo in the back of his left shoulder just as Buffy was about to reach him.

"Dad?" Buffy said, she noticed Wyatt on the stairs. "Hey little bro, why don't you go back upstairs."

Craven turned around and glared at Piper as ran to Leo.

Buffy pulled the boomerang out from Leo's shoulder as Piper reached them.

"Leo?" Piper asked while Buffy helped Leo to his feet as he groaned. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. No, no. Don't let Wyatt see," Leo said.

Leo, Buffy and Piper looked toward Wyatt who still stood on the stairs.

"Honey, why don't you go upstairs?" Piper asked.

"Mommy, daddy and big sis are fine," Leo added.

"Hey little bro," Buffy said, "what's the matter?"

Wyatt looked at the three of them.

"What is he doing?" Piper muttered and then suddenly she, Buffy and Leo all vanished.


	8. Chapter 8: Scry Hard Part 2

**Chapter 8: Scry Hard Part 2**

Buffy, Piper and Leo appeared in the living room of the manor.

"What happened?" Buffy wondered as she looked around. "And why does the room look different?"

"I'm not sure," Piper said as she moved to one of the windows and looked out it. She turned back to look at Leo and Buffy. "Uh-oh."

Buffy and Leo moved to look out the window and saw Wyatt towering over them.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the underworld Paige, Phoebe and Joyce hid behind a wall in the tunnel.

"Why is he doing this and why now?" Phoebe asked. "I have a paper to put out."

"Oh, I'm sure that factored into his decision-making process," Paige said.

"Who is he?" Joyce asked,

"Zankou," Phoebe said. "He was a demon that was recently released from the Source's prison." She looked at Paige. "I don't understand. How do we go from a demon attacking Leo to Zankou attacking us?"

Paige shrugged. "I don't know, maybe because Leo's mortal, he's making his move."

"It would have been a stupid move," Joyce said. "Even with Buffy still learning to control her powers, she is still the Slayer. That alone would make her a threat."

"Don't be shy, ladies. You knew this day would come."

Paige handed Phoebe another potions bottle. "Here. Take one of these."

"Paige, we have to get back to Piper, and I have to get back to work," Phoebe said.

"And Buffy and Leo," Joyce agreed.

"I want to let him know we're in the game," Paige replied.

Craven appeared back in the caves clutching his injured arm. "One sister's still at the manor."

Zankou nodded. "I know. I have the other two, along with a third as yet unidentified witch, pinned down."

Just then Phoebe's cell phone rang.

"Will you shut that freaking thing off?" Paige asked as she glared at her sister.

"I'm sorry, but you gotta admire the range, huh?" Phoebe said. "We're in the underworld. It's pretty good."

"Yes, its good, but it also told them where we are," Joyce said as she took Phoebe's phone and set it on the ground. "I have an idea, can you orb us behind them."

Paige nodded and orbed out with Phoebe and Joyce.

Zankou and the demons turned the corner as they walked toward the spot the sisters and Joyce had been. "You're making this too easy." He motioned for Craven to go around the other side of the wall. As he looked at where they were he saw the cell phone on the ground still ringing. He smashed it with the heel of his boot.

Looking for us?

Paige, Joyce and Phoebe throw their potions at Zankou, who waved his hands guiding them to miss him and hit the other demons standing behind him.

"You missed," he said as the demons were vanquished.

"Uh, okay. That's our cue," Paige said as she took Joyce and Phoebe's hands and orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the dollhouse Piper, Buffy and Leo stood in front of the living room window looking out at Wyatt. "Wyatt," Piper said, "we need to make mommy, daddy and sissy big again."

"Maybe he can't hear us," Leo suggested.

Piper stepped forward to open the window when she's shocked by a jolt of power. "Ow!"

"What happened?" Buffy wondered.

"I don't know. I think Wyatt put some kind of force-field on the dollhouse," Piper said. She got up and looked back toward Wyatt. "Wyatt! Let us out of here."

"Yeah," Leo agreed. "We know you're only trying to help, but daddy needs to get to the hospital."

"Shh! You're just gonna scare him, and that's probably why he put us in here in the first place, to protect us," Piper said.

"Why me though?" Buffy said. "I can see you two. He has yet to really get to know me as his sister."

"He may have had enough time to form that bond," Leo suggested. "Or he wouldn't have placed you here with us. Still we're supposed to be protecting him."

"Okay. Let me handle Wyatt," Piper suggested. "This requires a mother's touch. Wyatt Matthew Halliwell! You will stop this nonsense right now!"

"Wow. First time you used his full name," Leo said.

"Well, it sounds better when I'm scolding him," Piper said.

"I hope I never get on your bad side, Piper," Buffy said.

"Well Buffy Anne Wyatt, you just might you never know," Piper said with a laugh.

"You know, I don't think he understands what's going on. All he knows is a demon just tried to kill his dad, again," Leo suggested.

"Dad, might be right there, Piper," Buffy said.

Piper sighed as she turned around and walked back into the living room. "I don't understand why anyone would attack you. Leo. It's not like you're a threat to anyone anymore."

"What I don't understand is why the demon would think the house would be empty," Leo said as he headed for the couch and lay down.

"Well, we're not gonna figure out anything from inside here," Piper said as she leaned against a wall.

"At least the furniture's comfortable," Leo said. "You know, for toy furniture. Where'd you get this dollhouse, anyway?"

"Grams made it," Piper said.

"She made it?" Leo asked.

Piper nodded. "Well, I didn't know she was a witch back then, so, obviously, she used some sort of magic." She looked around. "It's pretty perfect."

"It doesn't look exactly like your house though," Buffy said. "There are differences."

"Your right of course, Buffy," Piper said. "It's a replica of the house from when I was a kid. We have changed some things, move things around also."

Suddenly they heard heavy footsteps approaching.

"What's that?" Leo asked as he stood up.

Buffy who still stood at the window looked out and smiled. "It's Paige," she said, "and my mom. What's my mom, doing here?"

"I asked Paige to see if Joyce could help vanquish the demons that attacked Leo in the attic," Piper said. "Your mom's invisibility power might've proved useful."

"Good idea," Buffy agreed as Piper and Leo joined her at the window.

The watched as Paige walked over to the bassinet where Chris laid. "Wyatt and Chris, what are you two doing up here?" she asked her nephews.

"Paige!" Piper yelled as she waved her arms trying to get Paige's attention.

"I don't think she's going to be able to hear us," Buffy said with a sigh. "Well maybe not you anyways. We're too small, our voices don't have the same carrying power they would if we were fullsized."

"What do you suggest then?" Piper said as she glared at Buffy.

"She's my Whitelighter, right?" Buffy asked.

Leo smiled. "Of course. A Whitelighter can sense when their charge needs them. Paige might be able to sense Buffy."

"Where's your mommy, daddy and sissy, huh?" Paige said. "I saw what happened downstairs. Okay."

Buffy closed her eyes as she thought only of Paige. "Paige," she called out.

Paige reached into the bassinet and picked up Chris.

"Come on, Paige," Buffy said. "Sense me. Sense that I need you."

Paige looked to Joyce. "I want to take them both Chris and Wyatt to Magic School. And then we are going to find out what happened to Piper, Leo and Buffy."

"Alright," Joyce said as Paige handed her Chris. Paige then took her free hand touched Wyatt on the shoulder and orbed out.

Piper sighed. "So much for her sensing you." She looked to Leo. "I see he's just as stubborn as someone else I know." She rolled her eyes. "How are we gonna get out of here?"

"We can't. It's useless," Leo said as the moved over to the couch and sat down.

"That's all you've got for us?" Buffy asked. "We're just supposed to sit here and do nothing while you bleed to death on the couch, Dad?"

"Buffy …" Leo said with a sigh.

"She has a point," Piper agreed.

Leo shook his head and looked between his daughter and his wife. "What do you want me to say? I can't self-heal anymore. Without a doctor –"

"Mom said, you used to be a doctor," Buffy said, "back during World War II."

"Yeah, fifty years ago," Leo scoffed.

Piper and Buffy slapped Leo on a leg.

"Well, start acting like one," Piper said. "Come on, Leo, you have to stop focusing on what you can't do and think about what you can do. Come on! Improvise."

"All right," Leo said as he thought about what do. "Grams used to like to sew, right?"

Piper nodded. "Yeah."

"Where?" Leo asked.

"Uh, W-Wyatt's bedroom used to be her sewing room," Piper said as she thought about it. "Why?"

They headed upstairs and to the sewing room as Leo explained what he needed Piper to do.

"Okay, now what?" Piper asked as Leo sat at a desk.

"Needle and thread," Leo said.

"What?" Buffy asked as she looked at her father, while Piper said at the same time, "Excuse me?"

"Don't worry," Leo said. "I'll walk you through it."

"What?" Buffy asked again. "Walk Piper through what?"

Leo doesn't answer but Piper seemed to get what he was saying without actually saying it. "Oh, no. No, no, no," she said.

"You're the one who said to improvise," Leo reminded them.

Piper took off her jacket as she got the needle and thread. "Well, since when does anybody listen to me?" she asked.

"You can do this, Piper," Leo said. "Okay, let's prove to Wyatt we can handle whatever's thrown at us."

"He has a point," Buffy said as Piper looked to her. "If you want to get out of this dollhouse. We need to show Wyatt we can protect each other and ourselves. That we can … as dad said … handle whatever's thrown at us."

"Mm-hmm," Piper said as she helped Leo take off his shirt.

"Buffy," Leo said. "You have the strength to pull the skin together. You do that while Piper stitches it through."

Buffy grimaced and nodded as she moved beside her father and did as he instructed.

"Now, Piper, I'm ready," Leo said. "Do it."

"Are you sure?" Piper asked.

"Hurry," Leo said.

Piper sighed as she started stitching.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

At the Bay Mirror Bauer walked up to Phoebe, who was filling in for Elise, dragging Tom Taylor with him by his tie.

"This moron is trying to take a butcher knife to my column," Bauer said.

"Okay, what seems to be the problem?" Phoebe asked. "Obviously, besides the butcher knife?"

"Phoebe, like I told you. It's a great story, really," Tom said. "It's just a bit bloated."

"Bloated?!" Bauer shouted. "I'll show you bloated."

"No. No. You know what?" Phoebe said with a shake of her head. "Please, please, please don't!"

Jordan, the fashion editor, sat at his computer and smiled as he listened to the argument. He glanced over at the film critic and saw that he's drinking out of his mug. His smile faded.

"Look, lady, I've been working the beat in this town for 22 years," Bauer said. "And no ivy league trust-funder is gonna tell me how to write the news."

Jordon stood and waved in front of Phoebe to get her attention. "Fashion editor. Sorry to interrupt. But our so-called film critic has been drinking coffee out of my teacup."

"I don't know what Jordan's so worked up about. It's a 2 1/2 star coffee mug at best," the film critic replied.

Just then Paige and Joyce stepped out of Phoebe's office and Paige grabbed her sister's arm. "Phoebe, we've got to go," Paige said as she pulled Phoebe aside.

"Yeah, I know, I know, and I want to get Zankou as much as you do," Phoebe said. "Where's Piper? And why is Joyce still with you. No offense, Joyce."

"None taken," Joyce said.

"That's the problem," Paige said. "Buffy, Piper and Leo have vanished."

"What do you mean? What about the boys?" Phoebe asked.

"The boys are fine," Paige said. "We just have to find their parents and their big sister."

"Who also happens to be my eldest daughter," Joyce reminded them.

Phoebe turned around and looked at Bauer. "Let me ask you a question. Do we ever push the deadline for the evening edition?"

Bauer shook his head. "No. Then it would be called the _sometime in the middle of the night_ edition."

"All right, you know what?" Phoebe said. "I am gonna go into my office for a very important conference call. _No_ interruptions." She looked to Paige and Joyce and the walked into her office.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige orbed with Joyce and Phoebe into the foyer to find two demons standing in the entryway to the living.

"Oh, goodness," Paige said as the demons turned around.

"Hope you guys got a discount on all that leather," Phoebe said.

"That's something I admire about you, ladies," Zankou said as he walked towards them. "Always a clever remark in the face of danger. No. I'm insulted. Don't you think I warrant the Power of Three?"

Joyce smiled as she walked toward Zankou. "Joyce Summers," she said. "We met briefly. Piper, Phoebe and Paige are my nieces." She glanced at Paige and Phoebe as if to say go with it. "You don't warrant the Power of Three because you are not a threat. Unlike in the Underworld, we have the advantage. The house has hardwood floors, you can't see where we are if I decide to make us invisible."

"True you could," Zankou said. "But with our numbers you wouldn't be able to avoid all of the fireballs that would be thrown about. One would be likely to hit you before you could take one of us out." He raised his hand and the front door opened. "I don't see you three as a threat without the Power of Three." He motioned with his hand and Phoebe, Paige and Joyce flew out the doors and land on the front porch with a thud.

He smiled and with a wave of his hand closed the doors on them.

"Now what?" Phoebe asked.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Tie it off and cut it," Leo instructed Piper who was finishing up stitching his wound.

"Scissors," Piper said as Buffy handed her a pair of scissors and cut the thread. "Aren't you happy you became a mortal?"

Leo smiled. "Well, at least now we can grow old to like every other couple."

"That is if we survive this," Piper said. "Wyatt's so worried he practically locked us up and threw away the key." She helped Leo put his shirt back on.

"Well like Dad said earlier, we just have to prove to him that we can take care of ourselves," Buffy said.

"Yeah," Piper said in agreement. "It would help if we were reinstated to our former size."

A shadow passed over them. They noticed and moved to the window and opened it. They saw Craven walk by the dollhouse and Zankou standing at the window.

"What's he doing here?" Piper asked.

"Well I recognize the demon that attacked earlier," Buffy said. "Who's the other."

"Zankou," Piper said. "He's currently at the top of the demonic foodchain."

"Post guards here and throughout the manor," Zankou said. "As soon as they find their sister, they'll be back, and make sure there is a demon who can see invisible beings making the rounds throughout the manor. We'll need to fend them off for as long as possible."

"You mean if we're to find The Nexus," Craven said.

"The Nexus?" Buffy asked.

"A spiritual nexus," Leo said. "Somewhat like the Hellmouth but this convergence is neutral, it can be swayed either way by who possesses the house. As long as the Halliwells have owned the house, the nexus while neutral in of itself has had its power used for good. But evil gets it."

"The nexus becomes evil," Buffy said in understanding. "And the power goes to help them instead."

"Where are Phoebe and Paige?" Piper wondered.

"Probably with my mom," Buffy said. "Since he did want someone who could see invisible people."

"And where is your mom?" Piper asked.

"If I knew that …" Buffy said with a sigh.

"I want more than just to find The Nexus now. I want to release the Shadow. Harness its ultimate power," Zankou said.

"Can you do that?" Craven asked.

"Now that evil has taken over control of the manor, I can," Zankou said. "And I will."


	9. Chapter 9: Scry Hard Part 3

**Chapter 9: Scry Hard Part 3**

"I can't believe we've been miniature for two hours ..." Piper said as she, Buffy and Leo walked down the stairs of the dollhouse, "... and demons take over the house. If Zankou taps into The Nexus –"

"We're not gonna let that happen," Leo said as they walked into the living room.

"Oh, yeah? How? We're three inches tall," Piper asked skeptically.

"Well, we're gonna get to the Book and we're gonna contact Phoebe and Paige," Leo answered.

"Uh ..." Piper pointed out the window at the extremely large Book of Shadows on its extremely tall bookstand. "That Book? 'Cause _A_ —we're trapped. And _B_ —even if we weren't, those demons could squash us with one foot."

"Stay calm. Wyatt didn't put us in here to get hurt. He put us in here to protect us. There has to be something we're overlooking," Leo said as she looked around the dollhouse. "Blasting doesn't work."

"Yeah. I noticed," Piper said remembering her earlier attempt at blasting out and being rebounded by the force field that Wyatt had placed over the house.

"All the doors, the windows are sealed. How did you play with the dollhouse when you were little?" Leo asked.

"What do you mean?" Piper wondered.

Buffy smiled as she saw where her father was going with his line of questioning. "It has to open, right. It's a toy, either the roof opens or it's hinged somewhere on the side and swings open."

Piper shrugged. "I don't know. That was a lot of years ago."

"It might be our only shot. You need to think," Leo argued.

"I think it swung open," Piper said as she looked around.

"Where?"

Piper headed into the conservatory as Leo and Buffy followed behind her. They two looked at their surroundings trying to find where the dollhouse swung open. "Here," she said.

Leo picked up a chair and broke it apart so he could use the longest piece to try and wedge the wall apart. But no matter what he can't get the leverage.

"Let me try," Buffy said as she took the chair piece from Leo. "I maybe three inches tall. But I'm still a Slayer which means I should still be physically stronger than either of you." With practiced precision she wedged the piece in and then utilizing every ounce of Slayer strength she had she managed to force the wall apart wide enough for them to get out through it.

"You know, Leo," Piper said as they would out through the crack. "I'm glad you cast that spell. Because if you hadn't they might have found out and taken Buffy away from Joyce, and we might still be trapped inside the dollhouse."

Leo laughed and nodded. "I am, too."

Buffy looked at her father and smiled as she wrapped an arm around him and gently hugged him.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

At the Bay Mirror in Phoebe's office, Phoebe stood behind her desk as she edited an article. Just at that moment Paige orbed in with Joyce.

"Oh, you got to give me one second," Phoebe said. "Any luck with Piper or Buffy?"

"No," Paige said. "I tried sensing Buffy and though unlike earlier I do seem to get a ping now. It's small, like the tiniest of blips. And both Joyce and I have scryed for both Piper and Buffy and we've come up empty. Will you please just come back to Magic School with us now?"

"Give me just two minutes," Phoebe said.

Joyce frowned. "My daughter is missing."

"And our sister," Paige added.

"And there are fifty jobs on the line if the paper does not come out," Phoebe argued.

Paige shook her head. "Well, you can cancel the subscription to our house if the demons don't get out."

"Just give me one minute," Phoebe said.

"Fine," Joyce replied as she looked at her watch. "One minute, go."

Phoebe looked at Joyce as if to say you're kidding right before Paige pushed her out the door. She sighed and then let out a loud whistle as she walked to Bauer. "Okay. Check this out," she said as she handed Bauer's edited article to him.

"You think I'm going to let _Ask Phoebe_ rewrite me?" Bauer asked.

"Read now, bitch later," Phoebe said as she remember Joyce. Not that she believed Joyce was actually keeping track of the time. She just how the mother of two felt right now. It had been after all how she had felt when she and Piper had lost Prue. So the sooner they found Buffy and Piper, the better. "Okay?" She turned to a man from advertising. "So you oversold a space. Let me see the ads." The man nodded as he showed her both ads. "Shrink them and print them both."

"We can't do that," he said. "The advertisers were promised a certain size."

"Well, then make the font bigger," Phoebe said. "And if they complain, send them a bottle of Cristal on my tab. Actually, on Elise's tab." Satisfied he turned and walked away. She turned back to Bauer. "What do you think?"

Bauer nodded. "It works."

"That's what I like to hear. Who's next?" Phoebe said as Jordan stepped up to her. She let out another sigh. "First my teacup, now he's on my computer."

"You know what? Isn't this kind of obvious?" Phoebe asked.

"What?"

"He likes you," Phoebe said with a shake of her head.

Jordan looked toward the film critic who smiled at him sheepishly. He turned and walked away.

"Any other questions?" Phoebe asked quietly, but no one answered. "No? Okay. I will be in my office in a meeting." She went back into her office and closed the door behind her.

"Now you understand what I have to go through," Joyce said.

Phoebe laughed. "I guess so. Let's go," she said as she and Joyce took Paige's hands and they orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy who was the first to make it to the top of the bookstand helped Leo and then Piper up before the three of them hid behind the Book.

"You both okay?" Leo asked.

"I'm fine dad," Buffy replied. "Slayer, remember?"

"My arms are a little sore, but I'm not the one with a hole in my back," Piper said.

"I'll keep an eye on those two," Buffy said as she motioned toward the door. "Get to work on that spell so Paige, Phoebe and my mom can find us."

"Don't you think they scried already?" Piper asked. "Or Paige would have sensed you, Buffy?"

"Well, if Paige, Phoebe and Joyce did scry, it wouldn't have worked," Leo said. Wyatt's shield on the dollhouse would've protected us. It would have likely kept Paige from sensing Buffy as well. But based on the last time you were shrunk."

"She dropped to the tiniest blip on Paige's radar," Piper said remembering when Gammil had shrunk her, Phoebe and Paige.

"It also must be the same reason Zankou didn't know where we are," Leo said.

"And now that we're out?" Buffy asked.

"We have to hurry," Leo said. "All right, Piper, help me flip these pages."

"Wait. I have a better idea," Piper said.

"What?"

Piper motioned to Leo to move and then using her explosive power flipped the page.

"Hold off a second," Buffy whispered as the demons looked toward the book. She looked around and smiled. "They're looking this way. Hopefully they will think the wind did it; there is a scarf by the window fluttering in the breeze."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

At Magic School Paige was utilizing a mortar and pestle as she ground up rosemary. "Okay, this whole calling a lost witch stuff is much harder without the book."

"Maybe we didn't scry hard enough," Phoebe said. "Shall we try again?"

"It won't work," Joyce said with a sigh. "Paige and I both scryed for Piper and Buffy and we both came up with nothing."

Paige put the pestle down and picks up the rosemary. "I even tried sensing Buffy, and she's dropped to the tiniest of blips."

"Tiniest of blips?" Phoebe asked.

"Yes," Paige said, when she looked at her sister she could see that Phoebe had realized something. "What?"

"Remember Gammil?" Phoebe asked. "When he shrunk us. Leo told Piper when he tried to sense me that I had dropped to the tiniest of blips."

"You think they've been shrunk?" Joyce asked.

"I'd say its possibility," Phoebe said. "They may even still be inside the manor. Paige, you said you found Wyatt and Chris alone at the manor with Piper, Leo and Buffy missing. What if he did the same thing he did with the dragon."

"You're saying that Wyatt shrunk his parents and his big sister," Paige said. "But why?"

"Didn't Piper tell you that Leo had gotten hurt?"

"Of course," Paige said. "And Wyatt would have seen the injury, he might have thought he was protecting them from getting hurt and put them someplace where they couldn't be hurt. But where?"

"I don't know," Phoebe said with a sigh.

Just then the scrying rose into the air and moved around the map. "Oh, my god. Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"Yeah. And I don't believe it," Phoebe said.

"I do," Joyce said. "There is a spell in your book that your mom and I wrote. We would cast it if we were in trouble and knew the other was looking for us. The spell would have done exactly this."

The crystal fell on the map, right on top of where the manor was.

"It looks like you are right, Pheobe," Paige said, "the are there."

"Or it's a trap," Phoebe said.

"It's possible," Joyce agreed. "They could have found Buffy and Piper and forced them to cast the spell. But I think it's a trap we are going to have to stumble into."

Paige nodded as Phoebe and Joyce took her hands and they orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

On the second floor of the manor outside the bathroom a demon walked through the hall. The door slowly opened and Phoebe looked out. She closed the door and looked at Paige and Joyce. "We gotta get past the guard."

"Fine, but we can't use any more magic otherwise Zankou will sense us," Paige said.

"Can't use magic?" Phoebe asked. "What do you call orbing?"

"She's right, he already knows we're here," Joyce said.

"I have an idea," Paige said and she smiled. "Do you remember how I told you of how my first face to face meeting with Buffy went?"

"The handstand," Phoebe said as she looked toward the door and nodded. She couldn't do a handstand but grabbing the doorframe she could use the leverage and kick out at the demon hard. She opened the door quietly and then got herself into position. As the demon passed outside the door, she swung out and kicked him in the face knocking him backward into the wall with a thud. She then kneed him in the head knocking him completely out.

"Okay. That was a really great plan," Paige said as she smiled.

"And it was all your idea," Phoebe said as she smiled at her sister. "Where do we begin?"

"The Book," Joyce said as they turned and headed up the stairs to the attic. As they approached the door the saw a demon, Phoebe took him out as Paige and Joyce worked their way around to the Book.

"Piper, where are you?" Phoebe asked.

"Buffy?" Joyce said.

The attic door squeaked shut as Zankou stepped out from behind the door. Phoebe turned around with a gasp. In his arms, he held a box. "Looking for these?" he said as he opened the box to show them Piper, Leo and Buffy inside. "The mighty Charmed Ones ... the most famous witches of all time. So many demons have tried to kill you."

Inside the Box Piper knelt down trying to keep her balance while Leo and Buffy peered out through the opening.

"What do you two see?" Piper asked.

"Demons," Leo replied.

"But now that the moment is here, it's almost ... anticlimactic," Zankou said.

"Maybe for you it is," Paige told him.

Zankou powered up a powerball. "Perhaps you'd like to go first."

"Hold on. You need us. To open The Nexus," Phoebe said.

Zankou smiled. "Nice try. Shall I start with you instead?"

"No," Joyce said. "Because you need them to get the Shadow."

The powerball in Zankou's hand vanished.

"I'm listening," Zankou said.

"What are they doing?" Piper whispered to Leo and Buffy.

"They're stalling," Craven said answering Piper's question unknowingly. "Just kill them and evil will control The Nexus this time."

"This time?" Paige asked. "What do you mean, you've tried before?"

"I bet they lost some demons, too. Yeah. We've had some experience with The Nexus," Phoebe said.

"So have I," Joyce said. "With the Shadow or as their Grams called it when she told it to them as a bedtime story, the Woogie."

"They're lying," Craven stated.

Zankou shook his head. "No. I read Piper's diary. I guess I'll need to make her big again for you to do this?"

"Zankou, they just want you to restore the Power of Three," Craven argued.

"What's that, compared to the power of the Shadow?" Joyce asked.

"So what is in it for you?" Zankou asked.

"We live to fight another day," Paige said. "And if we do die, we go down kicking and screaming."

"I'm not leaving you two," Piper told Leo and Buffy.

"You have to," Leo said.

"If Zankou gets the Shadow, then we'll never be able to stop him," Piper said.

"Trust my mom," Buffy said. "I bet you they have a plan that will not only rid you of Zankou but this Shadow demon as well."

"I think Buffy is right," Leo said." The Shadow won't know where to go. Look, I might have lost my powers, but I didn't lose what I know about magic. Trust me. Do what he wants."

Zankou reached in just then and took Piper out of the box.

"Hey!" Piper shouted. "Put me down! Dammit, I say. Put me down!"

"You try anything ... and you will lose the love of your life and your newfound step-daughter," Zankou told Piper. He then closed the box lid leaving Buffy and Leo unable to see what was going on. He restore Piper to full size and they all went down into the basement. They stop near a hole in the floor.

"Any idea how we're gonna get out of this one?" Phoebe asked.

"No," Piper said. She looked at Joyce. "Do you have a plan?"

"Yes, one I hope will get both Buffy and Leo back to full size," Joyce said.

Zankou handed Paige a spell. "Proceed."

"Natum adai necral dana intan lanok," Phoebe, Piper, Paige and Joyce all chanted.

They watched as the Shadow rose out of the hole. Zankou moved forward, his arms spread wide. At first the Shadow headed for him and then it turned and headed for Joyce, Piper, Phoebe and Paige.

"What's happening?" Zankou asked as the Shadow zoomed straight into the box Zankou still held.

"Leo? Buffy?" Piper said as the box exploded.

Black smoke poureds out of the box, then back into Leo and Buffy, now full sized as their eyes turned black.

Zankou turned and looked at Leo and Buffy. "What have you done?!"

The Shadow inside Leo and Buffy turned and blasted Zankou with a powerful force of smoke coming out of their right hands. The force of the blast pushed Zankou high up into the basement wall.

Zankou growled as the other demons in the basement turn to attack Leo and Buffy with their boomerangs. The boomerangs pass harmlessly through them. Leo and Buffy tossed Zankou to the ground and turned and blasted the demons, vanquishing them.

Zankou barely got to his feet when he threw a blast or energy at Leo and Buffy, which did not phase either of them. They blasted Zankou back, pushing him up the stairs and into the kitchen.

Buffy and Leo head up the stairs following Zankou and found the kitchen empty.

"Leo, Buffy, you two don't want this," Piper said.

"Say the spell," Leo told them.

"I am light. I am one too strong to fight," Piper said before Joyce, Paige and Phoebe joined in. "So go away and leave my sight and take with you this endless night."

The Shadow rose out of Leo and Buffy and headed back into the basement as father and daughter collapsed to the floor.

Leo and Buffy groaned as Piper and Joyce rushed over to check on them. "Are you both okay?" Piper asked.

"Yeah," Leo said as he looked at his daughter. "We're all right."

"What happened?" Phoebe asked.

"The Shadow couldn't choose between Zankou's evil or the Power of Three and Joyce, so it went to the only neutral territory ... me and Buffy," Leo explained.

"Buffy wouldn't be neutral though," Paige said. "If she hadn't chose she wouldn't have been assigned as my charge."

"You are correct," Leo explained. "And you are wrong. Buffy's witch side is good, of course. You are right there. But the Slayer, the slayer was created to maintain the balance between good and evil. It is neutral."

"So," Joyce said, "when the Shadow entered Buffy it inhabited only the Slayer half of her. It did not take her over completely like it had Leo, who was completely neutral. It was kind of like a multiple personality. While the Shadow was in her, the Buffy/witch personality was suppressed for the Slayer/Shadow personality."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

That night at P3, Buffy and Dawn sat with their mother, Piper, Phoebe, Paige and Leo. The two teenage girls had glamours cast on them to make them appear older so that Piper would not be in risk of losing her liquor license for allowing underage girls in.

"So, all that power surging through your veins didn't make you miss the old days?" Piper asked Leo.

Leo shook his head. "No. I chose the girl, remember?"

"It would be a shame not to put all that magical knowledge to good use," Phoebe said.

Leo looked to Joyce who smiled at him and then he looked back at the sisters and simply shrugged.

"Oh, my god! Isn't that your boss Elise?" Paige said as she looked out on the dance floor.

Phoebe's jaw dropped. Sure enough, Elise and her date, Richard Dillard, were dancing. "Oh, my god, it is!"

"So much for her family emergency," Paige said.

"Everyone deserves a normal life away from the pressures of their daily lives," Joyce said.

"I couldn't agree more mom," Buffy said as she hugged Joyce.

"You know what?" Phoebe said. "Good for her."

"You're not gonna call her on it?" Dawn wondered.

Phoebe laughed slightly. "Well, I'm not gonna buy her a new blackberry, but all the times I've bailed, who can blame her?"

"Wow," Piper said. "Enlightened."

"Well, you learn a lot from walking in someone else's shoes," Phoebe said.

"Yeah," Paige said. "That's what I'm afraid of—What Zankou has found out about us."

"I have my doubts," Joyce said, "that you have seen the last of him. In fact it would not surprise me if Dawn, Buffy and I have not seen the last of him either."

At that moment Leo got to his feet. "Well, on that unhappy note, I gotta get back to the manor and clean up the mess after the demons. It's probably gonna take a while to sort it all out."

"Well, here we go again, huh?" Piper asked.

Leo nodded. "Yeah," he said as he left.

Paige stood up and sighed. "As for me, as much as I would like to find a little cutie to dance with, I should be getting back to Magic School to finish those schedules. Whoo-hoo!" She looked to Joyce, Buffy and Dawn. "Call me when you're ready to orb home." She turned and walked off.

"I think I have a solution," Buffy said. "To at least Paige's problem."

"What?" Piper asked.

"Dad spent fifty years as first a Whitelighter and then an Elder. He could use his knowledge to pass on what he has learned to others like me and Dawn just coming into our powers," Buffy said.

"Have him teach at Magic School," Joyce said as she smiled at her eldest. "Paige would then be freed for her Whitelighter duties and her job in Sunnydale."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The next day Piper led Leo into the Great Hall at Magic School. She stood behind him covering his eyes. Once they were in the Great Hall she removed her hands. "Surprise!" she said.

Leo looked around. "What, you want me to clean magic school?" he asked.

"No."

Leo turned to find Phoebe, Paige, Joyce, Dawn and Buffy joining them.

"We want you to run it," Phoebe said.

"Huh?" Paige asked surprised at the turn of events. "What's going on here?"

"Well," Joyce said. "We know how you've been trying to juggle your Whitelighter duties, your job here and your job in Sunnydale. This will allow you to devote yourself to just you're duties in Sunnydale and of course your Charmed One responsibiltiies."

"And Leo being the perfect man for the job," Piper said as she looked at her husband. "Considering your magic know-how, you're practically a walking Book of Shadows."

"You can teach kids like me and Buffy all we need to know about our powers," Dawn added.

"Well that would definitely free me up," Paige said.

"And with Leo, the school is still in good hands," Joyce said.

Leo smiled and looks at Paige. "I don't know what to say. Paige?"

"I'm good," Paige said and with that she orbed out.

"Well, that was easy. Leo?" Phoebe asked.

Leo smiled. "I'd be honored."

"Good choice," Piper and Joyce told him.

Leo smiled as he kissed Piper and when he pulled away he saw Wyatt standing in the doorway. "Hi," he said as he walked over and knelt next to his son. "Guess what? You don't have to worry about daddy anymore, 'cause I am gonna be okay! Okay?"

"Before we call Paige back," Buffy said, "I just thought I'd let you know, dad. That Dawn and I will be here after school for an hour or two. Not only so I can spend time with you, but so you can teach us about our powers."

Leo looked up at his daughter and smiled. As he stood up, he picked up Wyatt and then pulled Buffy into an embrace hugging both is son and his daughter close to him.


	10. Chapter 10: Teacher's Pet Part 1

**Chapter 10: Teacher's Pet Part 1**

The vampire's attack caught the kids in the Bronze completely off guard. Even Buffy, wasn't ready. She tried to fight the monster, but he was too much for her. A girl screamed as the vampire threw Buffy onto the Bronze's red pool table. Then the undead creature got ready to pounce. Fear showed on the Slayer's face. She was helpless. Would this be the end?

"May I cut in?" Paige said as she grabbed the vampire from behind.

The vampire tried to go for Paige's throat, but she was ready for him. She slammed his head into the edge of the pool table, stood him up, and then gave him a blow to the stomach and a sock to the jaw that sent the creature of the night careening across the room.

Paige then went over to the pool table and helped Buffy up. She looked stunning in her low-cut red dress. "Are you all right?" Paige asked, staring into Buffy's deep blue eyes.

Those eyes stared back at Paige with gratitude—and longing. "Thanks to you," she said breathlessly, taking Paige's hand in hers. She looked down and said, "You hurt your hand."

Paige followed Buffy's gaze. She hadn't even noticed the pain.

"Will you still be able to—?" Buffy started asking before her voice caught.

Paige completed the question: "Finish my solo and then kiss you like you've never been kissed before?"

Buffy nodded, smitten as Paige smiled.

Paige noticed that the vampire was stirring, but she pretended not to while she headed back to the stage and her abandoned guitar. As she passed by an overturned table, she yanked off one of its legs, whirled, and threw it unerringly at the now-upright vampire, all in one smooth motion. The makeshift stake found its target. The vampire fell to the ground and crumbled to dust.

Buffy clasped her hands over her heart; tears started to form in her eyes.

Paige leaped back onto the stage, picked up the guitar, and proceeded to play the aforementioned solo.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige sat straight up in bed as she looked around herself. It took a moment to realize where she was, in her room at the manor. She slowly got out of bed and moved to the window. As she stared out of it she thought of the dream and she wondered was she falling for someone ten years younger than she herself was.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige walked into the kitchen the next morning to find Phoebe sitting at the kitchen table. "Phoebe, do you remember when you told me to get that cross for Buffy?"

"Yeah," Phoebe said with a nod.

"Did you have a premonition?"

Phoebe sighed. She had yet to tell her sisters she had received one of her powers back. She had wanted to tell them at the right time, like when she knew she wouldn't fall back on the habit that got them stripped in the first place. "Erm …"

"So you did get one of your powers back," Paige said.

"Yes," Phoebe said. "Before you yell at me, let me explain. I wanted to make sure I wouldn't start abusing them again like I was last year."

"I understand that," Paige said. "Piper might not though. Anyways when you told me to get the Carolingian cross did you have a premonition?"

"I did," Phoebe said. "I saw you giving to her, and I saw her wearing it. I haven't seen anything beyond that. And I don't understand why I even had that premonition to begin with. I didn't touch anything, it just came."

"It sounds to me that your power, even when it was stripped may have advanced," Paige said.

"I guess."

"Phoebe, I'm going to tell you something. I think I may be falling for Buffy."

"She's," Phoebe started.

"Underage," Paige finished for Phoebe. "I know. I could go to jail if I acted on it before she turned eighteen and it was found out. But I can't seem to keep her out of my head and not because she is my charge, either. I had a dream last night centered around her."

"Was it …"

Paige shook her head. "No there was no removal of clothes. I was playing a guitar when a vampire attacked. I saved Buffy from this vampire and then went on to play a solo. I know if the dream had continued it might have led in that direction."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy listened to Dr. Gregory drone on and on about insects.

". . . ancestors were here long before we were. Their progeny will be here long after we are gone. The simple and ubiquitous ant."

Then Dr. Gregory shut the slide projector off and turned on the lights. He stared out at his students through his distance glasses. He walked down the middle aisle between the two rows of lab tables, he said, "Now, if you read the homework you should know the two ways that ants communicate. Ms. Summers?"

Buffy had a deer-in-headlights look as she looked at the teacher. "Ways that ants communicate . . ." she said, using the classic stall of repeating the question.

Dr. Gregory nodded.

"With other ants . . ." she added, extending the stall.

"From the homework," he repeated, "ants are communicating . . ."

Buffy glanced over at Willow over Dr. Gregory's shoulder. Willow was making gestures to indicate the answer. "Uhm, uh, touch—and, um—B.O.?"

Laughter spread throughout the class. Next to her, Mall said, "Thank God someone finally found the courage to mention that."

Ignoring him, Dr. Gregory said, "That would be touch and smell, Ms. Summers. Is there anything else Ms. Rosenberg would like to tell you?"

Just then the bell rang. Before it even finished, the sound of stools scraping linoleum could be heard as students got up and prepared to bolt to their next class. "All right, chapters six through eight by tomorrow, people," he called out over the din, then turned back to Buffy. "Can I see you for a moment?"

Again, Buffy got the deer-in-headlights look.

After a few moments, the class was empty, except for Dr. Gregory—who had no class to teach this period—and Buffy. As he gathered up the slides he needed to go through for his next class, he said to her, "I gather you had a few problems at your last school."

"Well, what teenager doesn't?"

"Cut school," he said, checking a couple of the slides to make sure they were the right set, "get in fights, burn down the gymnasium?" She seemed surprised that he knew all this, so he added, "Principal Flutie showed me your permanent record."

"Look, that fire," she said, stammering, "I mean, there were major extenuating circumstances. Actually, it's kind of funny."

He walked over to the closet to retrieve his reading glasses. "I can't wait to see what you're going to do here—"

"Destructo-girl, that's me," she said ruefully.

"But I suspect it's going to be great."

Buffy looked confused. "You mean 'great' in a bad way?"

Dr. Gregory smiled as he cleaned off his reading glasses with his tie. "You've got a first-rate mind and you can think on your feet. Imagine what you could accomplish if you actually did the—"

"The homework thing?"

"The homework thing," he repeated. "I understand you probably have a good excuse for not doing it. Amazingly enough, I don't care. I know you can excel in this class and so I expect no less. Is that clear?"

"Yeah," she said. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry. Be smart. And please don't listen to the principal or anyone else's negative opinion about you. Let's make them eat that permanent record. What do you say?"

Buffy gave him a genuine smile. "Okay. Thanks," she said.

Dr. Gregory returned the smile. "Chapters six through eight."

Nodding resolutely, Buffy left the room.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"So," Dawn asked gravely having been filled in by Willow and Xander on what had happened. They had gone to the Bronze after Buffy and Dawn had returned from Magic School for their nightly lesson, "how'd it go after bio class?"

"Actually, it went pretty well," Buffy said. "Dr. Gregory didn't chew me out or anything. He was really cool." Sighing, she added, "But Flutie showed him my permanent record. Apparently, I fall somewhere between Charles Manson and a really bad person."

"And you can't tell Dr. Gregory what really happened at your old school?" Willow asked with a mock-innocent smile.

"I was fighting vampires? I'm thinking he might not believe me," Buffy said dryly.

Dawn laughed. "Yeah, he probably gets that excuse all the time."

"Here lies a problem," Cordelia announced as she came up to Buffy and Willow. "What used to be my table occupied by pitiful losers. Of course, we'll have to burn it." Then she smiled as she sat next to them. While Cordelia still tended to act like she always had, around Buffy, Dawn, Willow and Xander she had changed, especially around Xander since she now saw him as a total stud.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Xander wandered over to the couches near the coffee bar, but found only Blayne and one of his fellow football dorks, whose name Xander couldn't remember. If Blayne hadn't been Buffy's lab partner, he probably wouldn't have remembered his name, either.

"Seven," Blayne was saying. "Including Cheryl. I tell you though, her sister was looking to make it eight."

"Ooh, Cheryl's sister?" the other jock said, eyes wide. "The one in college?"

"Home for the holidays and looking for love. She's not my type, though. Girl's really gotta have something to go with me."

Without thinking, Xander said, "Something like a lobotomy?"

"Xander," Blayne sneered. "How many times have you scored?"

"Well . . ." Xander said hesitantly.

"It's just a question," Blayne said with an evil smile.

"Are we talking today or the whole week?" Xander asked, stalling. He was looking frantically around for Dawn, Cordelia, Buffy and Willow. Finally, he sighted them. "Ooh. Duty calls."

Quickly, he went over to where the four girls were talking. He said, "Babes!" loud enough for Blayne and his crony to hear as he put an arm around Cordelia.

"What are you doing?" Cordelia asked suddenly worried about his odd behavior.

"Work with me here," Xander said quickly. "Blayne had the nerve to question my manliness. I'm just gonna give him a visual."

Cordelia smiled and then turned to face him. "How's this?" she asked as she leaned in and she kissed him and then she felt him returning the kiss.

Xander turned and gave Blayne a thumbs-up when he and Cordelia broke the kiss. Blayne just shook his head.

"What is Paige doing here?" Buffy wondered as she headed for her Whitelighter. "Is something wrong?"

Paige looked at Buffy. "You look cold," she said as she took off her own jacket and put it on Buffy.

Buffy looked at the jacket and blushed slightly. "Thanks," she said then she noticed three long, parallel cuts on Paige's arm. "What happened?"

"Vampire," Paige said. "I was walking over to where I normally can orb home out of sight of anyone and he attacked. He had claws of some kind. I just thought I would warn you when you patrol tonight. If you need me I will keep an ear out for your call."

"Okay, thanks, Paige," Buffy answered.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"A vampire with a claw?" Giles asked as Xander walked up to him, Buffy, Willow and Paige in the quad of Sunnydale High the next morning.

"I'm sorry I couldn't give a better description," Paige said. "It looked like his hand had been replaced by a fork or a claw or some such. He was tall, kind of big. Not fit big, but not overweight big either."

Giles nodded. "I'll see what I can find out." He looked up at the sky. "God, every day here is the same."

"Bright, sunny, beautiful—how ever can we escape this torment?" Buffy said with a roll of her eyes.

Paige had to laugh, she like Buffy, Willow and Xander had grown up in California. So she was used to the weather. Giles on the other hand had come to England where it might rain frequently.

Giles gave Buffy a look, exchanged good mornings with Xander, then went off to bury himself in the stacks.

Wanting to share his good news, Xander immediately started in on it. "Guess what I just heard in the office? No Dr. Gregory today. Ergo, those of us who blew off our science homework aren't as dumb as we look." He punctuated the statement by closing Willow's bio textbook.

"What happened?" Buffy asked. "Is he sick?"

Xander shrugged. "They didn't say anything about sick—something about missing."

"He's missing?" Paige asked.

Xander frowned. "Well, let me think. The cheerleaders were modeling their new short skirts, I kinda got—" Buffy and Paige shot him one of their looks, which, annoyingly, was just like one of Giles's, and Xander grew serious. "Yeah, they said missing. Which is ... bad?"

"If something's wrong, yeah," Buffy said. "Paige?"

"I'll see what I can find out," Paige said.

Xander felt like he'd missed something. No bio teacher meant a substitute, which meant, in essence, a free period. What could be wrong?

Willow, as usual, explained: "He's one of the only teachers that doesn't think Buffy is a felon."

Mustering up his sincerity, Xander said, "I'm really sorry. I'm sure he'll—iya huh huh huh!"

He had intended to finish the sentence with the words turn up, but he had been distracted by a sight that made every overactive hormone in his body stand at attention.

The woman who walked down one of the quad's pathways was remarkable in many ways. For one thing, she was a woman in a setting primarily populated by girls; for another, she was attractive.

Though attractive didn't really seem to cut it.

The most beautiful woman ever to walk the face of the earth came closer, but even that seemed insufficient.

She had black hair cropped at her neck, sultry eyes, and the most amazing, pouty lips that Xander had ever seen. They were the kind of lips that simply begged to be kissed. She also wore a simple black jacket over a white shirt or blouse or something, and a skirt that wasn't quite a miniskirt.

To Xander's amazement and glee, she walked right up to him. "Could you help me?" she asked. Her voice was mellifluous, with just enough of a hint of an accent to sound moderately exotic, but not enough of one to place it.

All thought fled from Xander. His mind was filled solely with this incredible image of beauty before him.

"Uhhh—yes."

"I'm looking for Science One-oh-nine."

"Oh, it's um—" His mind remained blank, but for the image of her. He had no idea where Science 109 was. He wasn't entirely sure he could remember his full name if he were asked to provide it. "I go there every day," he said with a short bark of laughter, then turned to Buffy, Paige and Willow in a panic. "Oh God, where is it?"

Before anyone could respond, a voice belonging to the teenager whom Xander right there decided he hated more than anyone else who ever lived said, "Hi. Blayne Mall. I'm going there right now. It's not far from the varsity field where I took all-city last year."

"Oh. Thank you, Blayne," she said, and Blayne led her off. The football star gave Xander a friendly pat on the shoulder as he led the vision of perfection off toward the main building.

"It's funny," he said to the three girls, "how the earth never opens up and swallows you when you want it to."

Paige, Buffy and Willow looked completely unsympathetic. In fact, they were smiling.

"Come on," Buffy said, "we'll take you to Science One-oh-nine. If you want, you can even drop bread crumbs so you can find your way the next time someone asks you directions."

"Hardy har har," Xander said. And the three of them went to bio class.

Paige watched them go and shook her head. Something didn't seem right about that woman. But till she learned more she wasn't going to worry her sisters about it. She turned and walked into the school heading toward the office.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

When Buffy, Paige and Willow reached Science 109 they found the woman standing in front of the class. She wrote the words Natalie French on the blackboard.

Buffy spotted a pair of glasses on the floor and knelt down to pick them up.

"What's wrong?" Willow asked.

Xander turned to look at Buffy.

As Buffy picked up the glasses she noticed a cracked lens. "If Dr. Gregory dropped his glasses, why wouldn't he pick them up?" Buffy asked. Shrugging, she put the glasses on one of the tables and took her seat next to the hated Blayne.

The final bell rang, and the class settled down. "My name," said the woman, "is Natalie French, and I'll be substituting for Dr. Gregory."

Buffy asked, "Do you know when he's coming back?"

"No, I don't, um—" she consulted her seating chart, "Buffy. They just call and tell me where they want me."

Blayne muttered, "I'll tell you where I want you."

"Excuse me, Blayne?"

"I was just wondering if you were gonna pick up where Dr. Gregory left off," Blayne said quickly.

"Yes," Ms. French said with a smile that lit up the entire room. "His notes tell me you were right in the middle of insect life." She went over to the display table and picked up one of the glass cases that had a plastic replica of some kind of bug in it. "The praying mantis is a fascinating creature, forced to live alone. Who can tell me why—Buffy?"

Buffy stared at the case for a moment, then said, "Well, the words bug ugly kinda spring to mind."

The smile disappeared, and Ms. French's face darkened. "There's nothing ugly about these unique creatures." Then the smiled returned to her face. "The reason they live alone is because they're cannibals."

Several students made eeeww noises.

"It's hardly their fault," Ms. French went on. "It's the way nature designed them: noble, solitary, and prolific. Over eighteen hundred species worldwide, and in nearly all of them, the female is the larger and more aggressive than the male."

Blayne, having apparently forgotten the shoulder incident, leaned over to Buffy. "Nothing wrong with an aggressive female." Buffy shot him a look and he straightened up.

Ms. French picked up a textbook and began reading from it and walking up the aisle. "The California mantis lays her eggs and then finds a mate to fertilize them. Once he's played his part, she covers the eggs in a protective sac and attaches it to a leaf or a twig out of danger." She held up the textbook and showed it to the class as she continued. "Now, if she's done her job correctly, in a few months, she'll have several hundred offspring." She put the textbook down, and looked around the room. Her eye caught something on the bulletin board. "You know, we should make some model egg sacs for the Science Fair. Who would like to help me do that after school?"

Xander's hand shot up. So did Blayne's—and pretty much every other guy in the class.

"Good," she said with another one of her smiles. "I warn you, it's a delicate art. I'd have to work with you very closely—one on one."


	11. Chapter 11: Teacher's Pet Part 2

**Chapter 11: Teacher's Pet Part 2**

Ms. Matthews," Principal Flutie said when he spotted her entering the outer office.

"I heard Dr. Gregory was missing. Is it true?"

"Yes, I'm afraid it is," Flutie said. "Of course we're not mentioning that fact in front of students. We don't want them to be worried."

"So he didn't call in?" Paige asked.

"No, and it's unusual for him not to do so," Flutie said. "Dr. Gregory is one of the most professional men I have had the privilege of hiring. It's unlike him not to call in."

"Thanks for letting me know," Paige told him. "I'll make sure that the students don't know."

"How may I ask did you hear about it?"

"In the teacher's lounge," Paige lied. "I was getting my morning coffee and one of the other teachers mentioned it."

"Ah, of course," Flutie said. "I assume you will tell Mr. Giles so he can be sure not let slip about Dr. Gregory?"

"Of course," Paige said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Xander, Dawn, Buffy and Willow met at the entrance to the cafeteria, and together they went to greet the midday meal with the usual sense of anticipation and dread.

A sign proclaimed the latest culinary disaster from the graduates of the Sunnydale School of Medieval Torture. Buffy read it aloud. "'Hot dog surprise.' Be still my heart."

"Call me old fashioned," Willow said, "but I don't want any more surprises in my hot dogs."

Xander smiled, picked up a tray, then looked at his reflection in the stainless steel finish of a napkin holder. "I wonder what she sees in me. Probably just the quiet good looks coupled with a certain smoky magnetism." The girls looked at him questioningly. "Ms. French," he explained. "You three are probably a little too young to understand what an older woman would see in a younger man."

"Oh, we understand," Dawn said.

"Good," Xander said.

"A younger man is too dumb to wonder why an older woman can't find someone her own age and too desperate to care about the surgical improvements."

"What surgical improvements?" He chose to ignore the rest of Dawn's diatribe.

"Well," Willow said to Dawn and Buffy, "he is young."

"And so terribly innocent," Buffy added.

With that, the three girls went off to fetch drinks. Xander called after them. "Hey, those that can, do. Those that can't—laugh at those who can do. Well, that wallowed in lameness. If I keep this up, I'll lose my membership in the Witty Rejoinder Club."

Before he could come up with anything better, Blayne went by, his tray piled high with inedible delights.

"Gotta carb up for my one on one with Ms. French today. When's yours? Oh right, tomorrow. You came in second, I came in first. I guess that's what they call natural selection."

"I guess that's what they call rehearsal."

Blayne wandered off, unable to muster up a comeback.

"Excuse me," Cordelia said as she passed by her friends and into the kitchen. She stood in front of one of the huge fridges, and held up a slip of paper like a cop holding a badge. "Medically prescribed lunch. My doctor ships it daily. I'll only be here as long as I can hold my breath."

Xander shook his head. He liked his girlfriend of course but this … Before he could turn away and go back to thinking about Ms. French, he heard her make an ear-piercing wail.

Buffy exchanged a glance with her sister and Willow, then the three of them ran into the kitchen. Xander followed about three steps behind them.

The minute they arrived they were sorry they did so.

Hanging in the fridge like it was a massive side of beef was a human body.

The body wore a lab coat with the words sewn on the chest.

The head was missing.

"His head! His head!" Cordelia cried as she turned into Xander. "Ohmigod, where's his head?"

Much later—after the police had been called, the body taken away, and statements given—Xander , Cordelia, Dawn, Willow and Buffy met in the library. The girls looked stunned, and Xander felt much the same way. Even Giles, who usually radiated calmness in the worst of situations, seemed a little off. So did Paige for that matter.

"Here," Giles said to Buffy, handing her a glass of water. "Drink this."

"No, thank you," Buffy said as she took the glass and drank from it.

"I've never seen—" Xander started, stopped, then tried again. "I mean, I've never seen anything like—"

Again, his mouth wouldn't work properly. Finally, he said, "That was new."

"Who would want to hurt Dr. Gregory?" Willow asked.

Giles shook his head. "He didn't have any enemies on the staff that I'm aware of. He was a civilized man. I liked him."

"So did I," Buffy said in an unusually small voice.

"Well, we're gonna find out who did this," Paige said.

"We'll find them, then we'll stop them," Dawn agreed.

"Count on it," Buffy said with a good deal more determination.

"What do we know?" Giles asked.

"Not a lot," Buffy said. She stood up and started pacing. "He was killed on campus. I'm guessing, the last day we saw him."

"How did you work that out?" Paige wondered.

"He didn't change his clothing."

Xander spoke up. "This is a question that no one particularly wants to hear, but—where did they put his head?"

"Good point," said Cordelia. "I didn't want to hear that."

"Paige," Buffy said suddenly. "Could this have been that vampire you warned me about?"

"He had claws on one hand," Paige said. "It's possible."

Giles wandered over to the table to pick up one of his seemingly infinite supply of musty reference tomes. "I've been trying to gather more information about the Master, our local vampire king. There was one oblique reference to a vampire who displeased the Master and cut his hand off in penance."

"Cut off his hand and replaced it with a fork?" Dawn asked.

Giles shrugged. "I don't know what he replaced it with."

Xander didn't get it. "So why would he come after a teacher?"

"I'm not certain he did," Giles said. "There was an incident two nights ago involving a homeless person in Weatherly Park. He was practically shredded. But nothing like Dr. Gregory."

"That was before my run in," Paige said. "Which also says we have two different demons to deal with. The vampire and whoever or whatever took Dr. Gregory's head."

"So there's something else out there?" Cordelia asked.

"Besides Silverware Man?" Xander added. "Oh, this is fun. We're on Monster Island."

"We're on a Hellmouth," Buffy reminded them. "The center of mystical convergence." Giles shot her a look, and she added, contritely, "I guess it's the same thing."

"Yes," Giles said, "unpleasant things do gravitate here, it's true, but we don't know there's anything besides this chap. He's still our likely suspect."

"Where was that guy killed," Buffy asked, "Weatherly Park?"

"Buffy," Paige said, "I know you're upset, but this is no time to go hunting. Not until we know more. Please, promise me you won't do anything rash."

"Cross my heart," Buffy said sincerely.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The minute it got dark, Buffy put on the jacket Paige had given her and made a beeline for Weatherly Park. It was a quiet night with no breeze.

"Buffy."

Buffy whirled to see Paige standing a foot behind her. She let out a small sigh, she should have figured that Paige would have been able to sense where she was. "I'm sorry, Paige," she said as Paige fell into step with her.

"Buffy," Paige said with a shake of her head. "I asked you to wait till we knew more."

"Fork guy, is something I can do without too much research," Buffy argued. "Vampire, stake, dust."

Paige sighed. "I guess you have a point there," she said as they turned a corner and found what looked like a body on the ground and he looked dead.

But after a second, he started snoring just as as a breeze rustled a nearby bush.

Buffy started toward the bush before she felt Paige's hand on her shoulder. "There's no breeze," Paige told her.

Buffy nodded as she moved to push the branches out of the way, she and Paige both realized that the plant wasn't rooted. It had been placed there to cover a storm drain.

"I'd say we found the entrance to fork guy's lair," Buffy said with a glance at Paige.

Then the vampire leapt at them.

At first glance, he looked like an ordinary vampire. He had the fangs, the sloped forehead, the lack of eyebrows, the hooded eyes. What made him really stand out from the crowd were the six-inch-long, razor-sharp claws where his right hand used to be.

The six-inch-long, razor-sharp claws that were moving toward Buffy's head . . .

Buffy ducked his swipe. He had lunged, so his back was now exposed. Buffy took advantage of this to land two kicks to his lower spinal region before he could take another shot. Again, she ducked; again, she got two kicks in, then added a punch to the jaw for good measure.

He took a third swipe. Let's not get too repetitive, Buffy thought. Claw guy was a one-trick vamp. This time she grabbed his arm, and used the momentum of his swipe to flip him in a classic aikido maneuver.

As he landed with a thud on his back, Buffy took out a stake and prepared to finish him off.

Unfortunately, he quickly rolled out of the way and started to get up. Buffy knocked him down with another kick, and then—

"Hold it! Police!"

"Oh, great," Paige muttered from where she stood. The cops had snuck up over the hill behind her.

They were led by, of all people, a homeless guy. Buffy and Paige realized that the police had someone undercover to try and catch their murderer.

Claw guy took advantage of Buffy and Paige's momentary distraction to bolt into the underbrush.

"I heard him—spread out!" yelled one of the cops.

Muttering a curse, Paige and Buffy chased after him. They made it to the fence just as claw guy finished climbing it to the other side. He was going after a woman walking on the sidewalk, carrying a bag of groceries in each hand.

Buffy was about to call out a warning and vault the fence when she saw something that stunned her.

The woman turned around. It was Ms. French, the bio sub.

She stared right at claw guy.

Claw guy backed off.

"What's going on?" Paige whispered. "He's not backing off, he looks terrified."

Buffy realized Paige was right.

Looking for all the world like a cat with his tail between his legs, claw guy scampered to a drain cover, threw it aside, and escaped into the sewer system.

Ms. French—whose facial expression hadn't changed—turned and continued calmly walking down the street as if nothing had happened.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"You went hunting last night," Giles said the next morning.

"Yep," Buffy said.

Giles wasn't finished. "When you promised Paige you wouldn't."

"Yeah. I lied. I'm a bad person. Let's move on."

"Did you see someone with a claw?" Giles asked a bit tartly.

"Yes," Paige said. "And we saw Ms. French, as we were chasing the vampire, and Ms. French is heading home. The claw guy takes one look at her and runs screaming for cover."

Giles blinked. "He what? Ran away?"

"He was petrified," Buffy said.

"Of Ms. French?"

"Uh-huh. So," Buffy said, "I'm an undead monster that can shave with my hand. How many things am I afraid of?"

"Not many," Giles said, "and not substitute teachers, as a rule."

"So what's her deal?"

"I think perhaps it would be a good idea if we kept an eye on her," Paige suggested.

"I'm in agreement," Giles said.

"Then I'd better get to class," Buffy said, turning and heading for the door. She had less than a minute before the second bell would ring.

As she dashed through the hall, she was intercepted by Principal Flutie. "You were there, you saw Dr. Gregory, didn't you?" he asked without preamble.

Since Flutie had been standing right there—mostly whining—while Buffy, Cordelia, Willow, Xander, and the kitchen staff all gave their statements to the police, this struck Buffy as an odd question. "You mean yesterday in the cafeteria, when we found him—"

"Don't say dead," Flutie interrupted. "Or decapitated. Or decomposing. I would stay away from D words altogether. But you witnessed the event, so this way please," he said, indicating the opposite direction from Science 109.

"Well, no, I'm gonna be late for biology."

"Extremely late," Flutie agreed, leading her down the hallway. "You have to see a counselor. Everyone who saw the body has to see a crisis counselor."

"I really don't need—"

"We all need help with our feelings," Flutie babbled on, "otherwise we bottle them up and before you know it, powerful laxatives are involved. I really believe that if we all reach out to one another, we can beat this thing. I'm always here if you need a hug—but not a real hug, because there's no touching in this school, we're sensitive to wrong touching."

He led her to a bench outside what was usually the school nurse's office, which Buffy refused to sit on.

From inside, she could hear someone's voice droning on.

"But I really really—"

"No," Flutie interrupted again. "You have to talk to a counselor and start the healing. You have to heal."

"But Mr. Flutie, I—"

"Heal!" he barked, pointing to the bench.

Defeated, Buffy sank into the seat. She leaned back and hoped that Willow would notice if Ms. French did anything weird. Normally, she'd include Xander in that, but he was obviously besotted. She had even noticed he hadn't even been paying as much to Cordelia since Ms. French started subbing.

She finally noticed that the droning voice belonged to Cordelia.

"I don't know what to say," she was saying, which was obviously not true. "It was really . . . I mean, one minute, you're in your normal life, and then, 'who's in the fridge?' It really gets to you, a thing like that. It was—let's just say I haven't been able to eat a thing since yesterday. I think I lost like seven-and-a-half ounces—way swifter than the so-called diet that quack put me on. Oh," she added quickly, "I'm not saying that we should kill a teacher every day just so I can lose weight, I'm just saying, when tragedy strikes, you have to look on the bright side. You know, like how even a used Mercedes still has leather seats."

Cordelia finally tired of hearing herself talk and exited. Upon seeing Buffy, she said, "You'll probably need a couple of hours in there. I mean hey, why turn down the free therapy, right?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Cordy."

"I know," Cordelia said with a sigh. "Sorry. I just mean with everything you see daily."

"If I could, I would," Buffy said. "But I've been down that road." When she noticed Cordelia's intense look she explained. "When my dad heard me talking about vampires, he had me institutionalized."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Cordelia said. "That must have been terrible."

Buffy smiled at Cordelia. She thought back on the person who had been at one time the Queen of Sunnydale High. And how much with Jesse trying to turn her and Xander saving her, she had changed a lot. So much so that Cordelia was no longer Queen, that position had fallen to Harmony and Cordelia now dated her best friend. "Thanks, I better get in there and get this over with."

Cordelia nodded as Buffy went in.

Buffy answered all the counselor's questions with simple answers and was out of there in five minutes.

She ran to bio class only to see that the students were all hunched over tests. "Oh great," she muttered. "A pop quiz."

Two things grabbed her attention immediately after that. One was that her lab table was completely empty. Blayne also missed class.

The other was that Ms. French was standing with her back to the door.

This, in and of itself, wasn't unusual, but she turned her head around to look toward Buffy.

All the way around. Without pivoting the rest of her body at all.

At the last second, Buffy moved from out of sight of the bio class door.

This, she decided, is just too weird.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

After school, Buffy caught Paige, Dawn and Willow up on her day, ending with Ms. French's little neck trick.

Willow was, perhaps understandably, having problems with the concept. "She craned her neck?"

"No, I'm not saying she craned her neck," Buffy said, exasperated as they entered the library. "We are talking full-on Exorcist twist."

"Ouch," Dawn said.

"Which reminds me," Buffy said, remembering the other odd thing in class, "how come Blayne—who worked with her 'one on one' yesterday—isn't here today?"

"Inquiring minds want to know," Willow said, and immediately went for the computer.

Buffy and Paige went to Giles, who sat at the main desk, poring over a book. "Any luck?"

"Um, I've not found any creature as yet that strikes terror in a vampire's heart."

"Try looking under 'Things that Can Turn Their Heads All the Way Around.'"

"Nothing human can do that," Giles said.

"No, nothing human." Buffy said.

"What if Ms. French isn't human?" Paige pondered. "Upper level demons do have a human form."

"So you are saying that Ms. French is an upper level demon?" inquired Giles.

"It's a possibility," Paige said. "Though it doesn't explain how she can turn her head a full one hundred and eighty degrees. Nothing Piper, Phoebe or I have come up against has been able to do that."

"There are some insects that can," Buffy said. "Is it possible that she could be some form of giant insect demon in human form?"

"It's a possibility," Paige agreed. "Why don't you go look through the books on insects? See if there is a possible suspect?"

With that, Buffy went up the stairs to the stacks. After wandering around for several seconds, she came back out. "Where are the books on bugs?" she asked.

Paige rolled her eyes as she led Buffy to the insect books. "Aren't you glad we got your dad to take over Magic School?"

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy came running out to the railing that looked out over the main part of the library. She held a text on praying mantises in her hands. "Dig this," she said excitedly. "'The praying mantis can rotate its head a hundred and eighty degrees while waiting for its next meal to walk by.' Hah!" she finished, closing the book with a flourish.

Paige moved beside Buffy and looked over the book. "It would fit. Ms. French is her human form. The praying mantis is her demon form. It would explain how she could twist her neck a hundred and eighty degrees.

Giles started fiddling with his pen. "And you are saying these upper level demons can transform between the two?"

"Exactly," Paige said.

"I had a chum at Oxford, Carlyle, with advanced degrees in entomology and mythology," Giles said as he had an idea.

"Entoma-who?" Buffy asked.

"Bugs and fairy tales," Giles translated dryly.

Buffy nodded. "I knew that," she lied.

"If I recall correctly, poor old Carlyle—just before he went mad—claimed there was some beast—"

Willow interrupted. "Buffy, nine-one-one! Blayne's mom called the school. He never came home last night."

As Paige and Buffy walked around the table to join Willow at the computer, Giles asked, "The boy who worked with Ms. French yesterday?"

"Yeah," Willow said. "If Ms. French is responsible for—Xander's supposed to be helping her right now. He's got a crush on a giant insect!"

Willow sounded frantic. Quickly, Paige said, "Okay, don't panic. I'll warn him."

"In the meantime," Buffy added. "We need you to hack into the coroner's office for us."

"What are we looking for?" Willow asked.

"Autopsy on Dr. Gregory. I've been trying to figure out these marks I saw on his corpse. I'm thinking they were teeth." She pointed to a picture in the mantis book. "And these cuddlies should definitely be brushing after every meal." She turned back to Giles. "And you were saying something about a beast?"

Giles had his faraway look on. "Oh, uh, yes, I just need to make one transatlantic telephone call." He headed for his office, then stopped and turned around. "This computer invasion that Willow's performing on the coroner's office—one assumes it is entirely legal?"

"Of course," Buffy said with all the sincerity she could cram into two words.

"Entirely," Willow said at the same time.

Giles obviously didn't buy it for a second. "Right," he said. "Wasn't here, didn't see it, couldn't have stopped you."

"Good idea," Buffy said with more sincere sincerity.

As the librarian disappeared into his office, Buffy grabbed her new leather jacket and she and Paige went off in search of Xander, leaving Willow to her hack work.

It took several minutes to find him. He wasn't in the bio classroom, nor the student lounge or cafeteria, and he obviously wasn't in the library, which exhausted his usual haunts. They checked outside, finally finding him walking near the quad.

"Hey," Buffy said as they caught up to him.

He said, "Hey," back.

"So how'd it go with Ms. French?" Paige inquired.

Xander shrugged. "Well, it's a bit demanding being her absolute favorite guy in the universe, but I'll muddle through."

"Xander," Paige said, "she's not what she seems."

"I know," he said dreamily, "she's so much more."

"Xander," Paige said. "She's an upper level demon in human form and her demonic form is that of a giant praying mantis."

Buffy added, "This sounds really weird, I'm aware, but—"

"It doesn't sound weird at all," Xander said in a condescending voice. "I completely understand. I've met someone, and you two are jealous."

"What?" Paige and Buffy asked.

"Look, there's nothing I could do about it. There's just a certain chemical thing between Ms. French and me."

Paige rolled her eyes. "What about Cordelia?" she asked.

"What about her?" Xander asked.

"Paige," Buffy said. "He's under the influence of pheromones. It's a chemical attractant insects give off. He'd probably forsake his own mother at the moment."

"She's not a demon, she's a woman, okay?" Now Xander sounded exasperated. "Hard as it may be for you two to conceive, an actual woman finds me attractive. I realize it's no Paige handing out leather jackets."

"What does my giving Buffy my jacket that have to do with—" Paige started.

"Nothing," Xander said. "It just kinda bugs me."

Buffy looked into her friend's eyes and saw that there would be no convincing him. He hadn't paid attention to a thing they said, hadn't considered the possibility that they might be right. That was so wildly out of character—and, at the same time, completely in character under the circumstances—that Buffy knew it would be pointless to keep arguing. "Come on, Paige. We can't help him this way."

Paige sighed as she and Buffy headed back toward the library. "And how do you expect to do that?"

"I don't know yet," Buffy said. "But I'm sure we'll figure something out."


	12. Chapter 12: Teacher's Pet Part 3

**Chapter 12: Teacher's Pet Part 3**

Giles had said he had to make one transatlantic phone call, but he actually made several. According to Willow, he was on his fourth call by the time Buffy and Paige returned from their abortive attempt to talk to Xander.

Apparently, this Carlyle guy had been transferred to a different loony bin. Night had fallen by the time Giles found the right one.

"Frankly, madam," came the Watcher's voice from his office, "I haven't the faintest idea what time it is, nor do I care. Now unlock his cell, unstrap him, and bring him to the telephone immediately, this is a matter of life and death!"

"Got it," Willow said. Buffy, Dawn and Paige joined her at the computer. "Coroner's report, complete with"—she made a face—"yuck, color pictures."

Willow backed away from the monitor, but Buffy leaned in closer. She compared the marks on what was left of Dr. Gregory's neck to those in the textbook. "They are teeth marks," she said triumphantly, "which match perfectly the one insect that nips off its prey's head."

"Okay," Willow said, "I don't like this."

"It's the way they feed: head first. Also, the way they mate. The female bites off the male's head while they're—"

"No, no, no!" Willow said, and Buffy belatedly realized that she perhaps shouldn't have gotten so graphic. "See, Xander is—I like his head, that's where you find his eyes and his hair, and his adorable smile . . ."

"Whoa, take it easy, Will," Dawn said, putting her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Xander is not in any immediate danger."

"Buffy and I saw him leave school—he's probably safe at home right now," Paige offered.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Rupert Giles hadn't heard Ferris Carlyle's voice in twenty years, and it appeared that the intervening two decades hadn't done much for the old boy's stability.

"I understand, Carlyle. . . . Yes, I'll take every precaution. . . . Absolutely, it sounds exactly like the creature you described. You were right all along, about everything. . . . Well, no, you weren't right about your mother coming back as a Pekingese, but . . . Try to rest, old man. . . . Yes. . . . Ta. . . . 'Bye now."

He hung up the phone with the sensation of having gone crawling in some very unpleasant holes. Rubbing his left arm briefly, as though it pained him, he rose and went back into the main part of the library, where Paige, Dawn, Buffy and Willow were waiting.

"So was your friend able to corroborate my theory?" Paige asked.

Giles nodded. "Dr. Ferris Carlyle," he said, "spent years transcribing a lost, pre-Germanic language. What he discovered he kept to himself—until several teenage boys were murdered in the Cotswolds. Then he went hunting for it. He calls her a She-Mantis. This type of creature, the Kleptes-Virgo, or virgin thief, appears in many cultures: the Greek Sirens, the Celtic sea-maidens who tore the living flesh from the bones of—"

"That explains why the cleaners didn't erase the knowledge, only he had seen it and lived to tell the tale. No one would have believed him," Paige said.

"It seems that way," Giles agreed. "You were also right that his She-Mantis may be an upper level demon with a human form. She assumes the form of a beautiful woman and then lures innocent virgins back to her nest."

"Virgins? Well, Xander's not a . . . I mean, he's probably—" Dawn started.

"Gonna die!" Willow finished as she got up and ran to the phone.

"Okay, okay," Buffy said, "so this thing is breeding. And we have to find it and snuff it. Any tips on the snuffing part?"

"Carlyle recommends cleaving all body parts with a sharp blade."

"Slice and dice," Buffy said.

"If it's truly an upper level demon," Paige said. "Only a potion made from its flesh will vanquish it. Nothing else will work."

"Let's hope," Dawn said, "that it's not an upper level demon."

The sound of the phone slamming down came from the desk. "Xander's not home," Willow said, walking over to join them. "He told his mom he was going to his teacher's house to work on a science project. He didn't tell her where."

Buffy said, "See if you can get her address off the substitute rolls." She turned to Giles. "And you need to record bat sonar, and fast."

Giles nodded. "Bat sonar, right." Then, realizing he was missing a vital piece of data, he asked, "What?"

"Bats eat them. A mantis hears sonar, its entire nervous system goes kaplooey."

"Where am I going to find—?"

"In the video library," Paige said, leading Giles in that direction.

"There are no books, but it's still dark and musty, you'll feel right at home," Buffy added.

"Go on," Paige said as she turned toward Giles office. "I'll get a tape and tape recorder."

"I guess I'll handle the armory," Buffy said as she walked over to the weapons locker and opened it.

Paige found a microtape and joined Giles in the stacks. She found Giles had located the proper tape—noting with sadness that the last person to use the tape, according to the log, was Michael Gregory—and put it in. Once it got round to showing sonar, Paige simply put the handheld to the television speaker and hit record.

Ten molar-grinding minutes later, she had recorded what she prayed was enough. Sh rewound the tape, played enough to hear that it recorded, then noticed that the battery light was flashing. Not wanting the batteries to run dry in the middle of a fight, she transferred the tape to another handheld.

Giles and Paige reentered the main part of the library just as the computer printed out a piece of paper for Willow and Dawn.

"Getting the address," Dawn said.

"Great," said Buffy, who was placing her packed duffel on the table. "Giles? Paige?"

"Recording bat sonar," he announced, "is something soothingly akin to having one's teeth drilled."

"Let's roll," Buffy said.

The five of them headed for the door. As they did, Willow perused the paper she had just liberated from the printer. "According to Ms. French's personnel records, she was born in 1907. She's like ninety years old."

"She is extremely well preserved," Giles said dryly.

"That doesn't make sense," Paige said. "For a while my sister, Phoebe, dated a demon. While he was over a hundred years old his official records showed him being far younger than he actually was."

It didn't take long to find the French residence at 837 Weatherly Drive. Giles parked in front of the house, and they piled out.

"What now?" Giles asked as they approached the door. "We can't just kick the front door down."

"Yeah, that would be wrong," Buffy said just as she prepared to kick the front door down.

Before she could, however, the door opened to reveal a wizened old woman wearing a cardigan sweater and thick, plastic glasses. "Hello, dear," she said. "I thought I heard . . . Are you selling something? Because I'd like to help you out, but you see I'm on a fixed income."

Buffy said slowly, "I'm looking for Ms. French."

"I'm Miss French," the woman said proudly.

"Natalie French," Buffy clarified, "the substitute biology teacher."

"Goodness, that's me," the old woman said with a warm smile. "I taught for over thirty years. I retired in nineteen seventy-two."

Suddenly, everything clicked in Paige's head. Ms. French's record stating that she was born in 1907 made a good deal more sense.

Buffy, having obviously come to the same conclusion, said, "I can't believe this. She used Ms. French's records to get in the school—she could be anywhere."

"No, dear," the old woman said, "I'm right here."

"What do we do now?" Willow asked verging on panic.

"Abject prayer and supplication would spring to mind," Giles muttered.

"Buffy and I saw her walking past this park with her grocery bags," Paige said, pointing at the nearby Weatherly Park. "She lives in this neighborhood."

Dawn started moving toward one of the other houses. "I'm gonna start banging on doors."

"Wait, no," Buffy said, grabbing her sister, "we don't have time for that."

"We have to do something!" Willow cried.

"We will," Paige said, "first we need to find her. Buffy are you thinking of what I am thinking?"

Buffy nodded as headed for the street and stopped in front of a sewer cover, she dropped the duffel, and pulled out a good length of rope. Then she removed the cover. "I won't be long," she said, and then disappeared into the sewer.

For several tense millennia—though their watches insisted only three minutes passed—Dawn, Paige, Giles and Willow crouched by the sewer opening. At one point, Giles called her name, but to no response.

"Come on, Buffy," Willow muttered.

Finally, Giles remembered that their one-handed vampire had taken to living in the sewers. "Claw guy?" he asked Paige.

"He was afraid of her," Paige said. "It would make sense that he might be a good bloodhound."

They heard the sounds of a struggle in the bushes behind them. As they got up to look, Buffy popped out, along with the large, long-haired vampire whose hands had been tied behind his back. Or, rather, hand, singular. "You!" the vampire said, apparently seeing Buffy clearly for the first time. "And you!" he added looking at Paige.

"Us," Buffy said with a smile. Then she grabbed him from behind and started pushing him down the sidewalk. "Come on, come on, where is she?"

Giles and Paige, following behind with Dawn and Willow, followed Buffy and the vampire down the street.

"Which house is it?" Paige asked.

"I know you're afraid of her, we saw you," Buffy added. "Come on, come on!"

They passed one of those tiresome American split levels with a white picket fence, and suddenly the vampire tensed.

"What?" Buffy prompted. "What is it? This is the entrance to her house? This is it?"

The vampire said nothing in response, but turned away.

Buffy dragged the vampire closer to the house, saying, "Better than radar." The vampire cringed even more.

The house itself was completely dark, but for a single light coming from a small cellar window.

Giles looked back at the vampire—just as he had finished using his prosthetic to slice through the rope.

"Look out!" he cried at the same time that Dawn, Paige and Willow yelled, "Buffy!"

The vampire slashed at Buffy, who sensibly dodged out of the way. Unfortunately, the motion of the dodge caused her to trip and fall on the front lawn. The vampire advanced on Buffy, who crab-walked backward until she ran into the fence.

As Giles debated the wisdom of giving aid, Buffy grabbed a slat of the fence, broke it off in a smooth motion, and used it to stake the vampire.

As the vampire collapsed into dust, Buffy stood up, smiled, and said, "Paige?"

"Let's make sure first," Paige said as they made for the house. Then they heard the blood-curdling cry for help ...

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The She-Mantis opened the door to the cage and motioned for Xander to come out.

Keeping a purloined cage bar behind his back, he slowly inched feet-first out of the cage. "I'm comin', I'm comin'," he said.

As soon as he was close enough, he slugged the mantis with the bar, then leaped up and ran straight for the stairs.

A foreleg tripped him, and he came crashing to the stairs with a bone-jarring impact.

The other foreleg grabbed him by the torso and the She-Mantis hefted him with disturbing ease. She carried him to a wall and secured him to it with leather straps.

"Oh yeah, here it comes," Blayne said.

"What? What's happening?" Xander asked frantically, even though he wasn't one hundred percent sure he really wanted to know.

"How do you like your eggs, bro, over easy or sunny-side up?"

"Eggs? She's gonna lay some—?"

Ms. French's words in bio class several lifetimes ago came back to him: "The California mantis lays her eggs and then finds a mate to fertilize them." Hanging from the wall were a bunch of eggs.

Xander wondered if it was his imagination, but the praying mantis seemed to be smiling. He didn't think bugs could smile.

Then it leaned in closer and said in Natalie French's voice, "Kiss me."

Struggling futilely against his bonds, Xander said, "Can I just say one thing? Help! Heeeeeeeeelp! "

As if in response, orbing lights entered the room and solidified into Dawn, Willow, Giles, Buffy and Paige.

"Hey, over here!" Blayne cried out. "Hello? In the cage?"

Showing tremendous good sense, Buffy ignored Blayne, instead yelling at the bug, "Let him go!" Buffy had her bag of tricks with her, and pulling out two cans of bug spray, hit the former Ms. French with both barrels.

The giant bug retreated into a corner.

"Help me?" Blayne continued to wail. "Help me!"

"Paige! Get them out of here," Buffy said.

Paige handed Buffy the tape recorder and then orbed out and into a cage. She grabbed Blayne and orbed him out.

Buffy held the handheld tape recorder aloft like it was a samurai sword. "Remember Dr. Gregory—you scarfed his head? Yeah, well, he taught me if you do your homework, you learn stuff. Like what happens to your nervous system when you hear this."

She hit the play button.

They winced as it played an ear-screeching, high-pitched sound.

The mantis was gyrating around and screeching as if in agony.

"Bat sonar makes your whole nervous system go to hell," Dawn said with a smirk.

Buffy reached into her bag and hefted a giant machete. "You can go there with it," she added. She took the machete and starting hacking and slashing the giant mantis just as Paige orbed back in.

In less than a minute, the floor was covered with mantis chunks.

"I'd say it's deceased," Giles said.

"And dissected," Willow added.

Xander asked Buffy, "You okay?"

"Yeah."

Preparing himself for a five-course meal of crow, Xander said, "Just for the record, you both were right, I'm an idiot, and God bless you both."

Paige and Buffy smiled a no-hard-feelings smile, for which Xander was grateful.

Turning to Giles and Willow, Xander said, "And thank you guys, too."

"I'm really glad you're okay," Willow said to Xander, moving next to him. "It's so unfair how she only went after virgins."

Xander blinked. "What?"

"I mean, here you guys are, doing the right thing—the smart thing—when a lot of other boys your age—"

Giles smiled and said, "That's the She-Mantis's modus operandi —she only preys on the pure."

"Well, isn't this a perfect ending to a wonderful day?" Xander asked.

"I don't think it's bad," Dawn said with a smile. "I think it's really—"

Xander bent down to the floor where Buffy had dropped the machete and picked it up.

"Sweet," Dawn said quickly, eyes widening at the sight of the blade. "Certainly nothing I'll ever bring up again."

Xander smiled, then went over to where the egg sacs hung.

Methodically, like a boxer with a punching bag, he hacked and sliced the egg sacs to ribbons.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige didn't make a noise when she appeared next to Buffy in the Bronze. Then again, her mind had been drifting, and the music was especially loud tonight. "I'm proud of you," she said. "What could arguably been a new breed of upper level demon."

"Or it could have been," Buffy argued. "one of those mid-level getting a power boost."

"That is possible," Paige agreed as she gave Buffy a full smile.

A part of Buffy desperately wanted to drown in that smile. "Well anyway," she said after a moment, starting to take the jacket off, "you can have your jacket back."

Paige held up a hand to stop her. "Looks better on you."

"Let me guess, Phoebe had another premonition?" Buffy asked.

"Maybe," Paige said as she smiled.

Buffy looked at Paige who smiled again and then walked off. "Oh boy."


	13. Chapter 13: Never Kill a Girl on

**Chapter 13: Never Kill a Girl on the First Date**

Buffy stood between Willow and Dawn as she looked at the food station in front of her. "This is spooky," she said with a confused look on her face. "Is the green stuff fruit or vegetable?"

"Yes," the cafeteria lady told her.

"I'll take it," Buffy said as a scoop of green slop is plopped onto her tray.

"I was guessing string cheese," Xander said just as someone bumped into Buffy.

"Paige?" Buffy said as she turned to face her Whitelighter.

"Sorry," Paige said. "I just can't get used to the school food their serving. I am seriously considering having Piper fix me something."

"Is she really the good cook you make her out to be?" Buffy asked as they moved to a table and sat down.

"Yes," Paige said as she smiled.

Buffy looked at that smile and like the last time she had seen it grace Paige's lips. She knew she could just drown in it.

Willow, Dawn and Xander looked at Paige and Buffy and a smile graced their lips, well Willow and Dawn's anyways.

"I was thinking for defeating your first upper level demon, the Elders are calling it an upper level despite the fact it didn't require a potion to vanquish," Paige said. "We could go to the Bronze to celebrate. Say tonight at eight?"

Buffy smiled at Paige. "Yeah. Eight. There."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"PHOEBE!" Paige shouted as she orbed to the Manor that afternoon. She found her middle sister sitting at the dining room table. "What is with these so call premonitions? First you have me give her the cross, then my jacket and now I'm taking her out to the Bronze as a way of congratulating her for her first upper level demon vanquish. Are you meddling again?"

"Maybe a little," Phoebe told her. "But I also have gotten premonitions. Let's just say I am nurturing the budding relationship."

"She's underage," Paige objected.

"She won't always be," Phoebe argued. "Besides unless you cross the line into illegal territory there is nothing truly illegal with dating someone underage. That said if Joyce forbade you from seeing Buffy, that's different. Then it becomes illegal. But since you are Buffy and Dawn's Whitelighter, I have my doubts she would do that. She knows that you are needed to help guide them to their destinies."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

At Sunnydale High Dawn, Buffy and Willow exit the school coming down the steps.

"Willow, it's not that big a deal," Buffy said. "It's just a bunch of people getting together. I mean, sure, Paige asked me specifically."

"I guess I blew it way out of proportion," Willow said.

"All right, it's a big deal. Did you notice how the corners of her mouth curled up when she smiled?" Buffy asked.

"We saw," Dawn said. "And I think Willow and I agree that while you and Paige can't do anything beyond a simple date, and don't you think for one second this isn't a date, there is nothing illegal about going out with an adult."

"I know," Buffy said as smile crossed her lips. "Wait a minute."

"What's wrong?" Willow asked.

"If you listen real close, I'm starting to sound like a regular teenager. I've got friends. I've got a date, albeit with someone ten years my senior. All I need now are zits and an eating disorder."

"Good afternoon, ladies," Giles said as he walked up to them.

"Although I should probably do something about that supernatural ability to destroy the undead," Buffy said with a sigh.

"I'm under the impression there's some sort of ironic tone in that statement, but as an Englishman I'm incapable of discerning it," Giles said.

"Yeah? Well, that makes us even, because I don't get Benny Hill," Dawn said.

"In any case, that supernatural ability, which you both should cherish and treasure, if I might add—"

"You always do," Buffy and Dawn said.

"—is needed tonight," Giles finished.

"Close the beach on that idea. I've got a very big meeting tonight with Paige tonight," Buffy replied.

Giles sighed. "What is this meeting?"

"Paige is taking Buffy to the Bronze to celebrate vanquishing her first upper level demon," Dawn answered.

Giles sighed. "What I have is much more urgent."

"More urgent than me moving past 'Buffy, The Celibate Years'? I don't think so," Buffy replied.

"My books tell of a major event occurring on the evening of the 1,000th day after the Septugian Sunset. That's tonight," Giles said.

"Already? Seems like just last week was the 1,000th day after the last Septugian Sunset. Where does the time go?" Willow asked sarcastically.

"According to my calculations, we are due for a fresh rising of vampires. It is prophesied: 'On that day, seven souls will be captured into the darkness. And the Master will look upon one of them and be pleased.'" Giles said as he read from his notebook.

Buffy let out a long sigh. "Too bad, because I looked upon Paige and was very pleased."

"Buffy," Giles said. "First off you are underage; anything you and Paige do has to be simply platonic. It is best the two of you simply retain a working relationship. Second off the slayer must be present tonight. Your responsibilities to the world are paramount."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The cemetery was stone quiet as Buffy and Giles sat there quietly waiting.

"Perhaps I miscalculated," Giles said.

"I'm thinking yes," Buffy said.

"I was so sure," Giles said. "Well, you know what they say."

"Not really."

"Ninety percent of the vampire slaying game is waiting."

"You couldn't have told me that ninety percent ago?" Buffy asked sarcastically.

"Oh, well. At least we were here at the ready, so it wasn't a completely wasted evening," Giles said ignoring her sarcastic tone.

"Yes, Giles, it was. But that's okay. I'm sure I'll have another shot at teenage happiness someday. Like when I'm thirty," Buffy said.

Giles sighed. "Come now. What you consider a curse, others would call a gift. Be thankful you're not burdened with trivial matters like what to wear to next month's hay dance."

"And that is where you and Paige differ," Buffy argued. "She says I should worry about trivial things. Like being a teenager and what to wear to next month's _hay dance,_ that I need to have something to live for." She started to gather her things. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I might still have a chance to salvage the remains of my dating career."

"Buffy, this thing with Paige is not …"

"A date," Buffy finished. "I know that since I'm only sixteen and that Paige and I can't really do much or I would wind up without my Whitelighter. But there is nothing illegal about Paige and me going out either."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy walked into the Bronze to find Paige dancing with a guy she didn't recognize.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy slammed her locker door the next day before looking at Xander.

"So you just went home?" Xander asked.

"What was I supposed to do?" Buffy asked. "Say to Paige, 'Sorry I'm late, Giles was being a pain'."

"Or... flat tire," Xander said as he used his hands to demonstrate the weight of the situation.

Buffy sighed. "Giles should come with a Surgeon General's warning: may be hazardous to Buffy's social life. He's completely not cognizant. It's as if he's never even been on a date."

"Distinct possibility."

"I can't take this anymore," Buffy told her friend. "I feel like everyone's staring at me, the hideous dateless monster." Just then a student walked by. "That's right, I have no life. Move along, pal. Nothing to see here."

The student scurried on.

"You're reacting a little overly, aren't you?" Xander asked. "Everyone likes you. I bet you could have any guy or girl in the school."

"That's a nice thing to say. You're a good friend," Buffy said as Paige walked up to them.

"Hello, Xander," Paige said. "Buffy, can I see you for a moment?"

"I'll leave you two alone," Xander said as he moved aside and began rummaging through his locker.

"What happened?" Paige asked.

Buffy sighed. "Giles, he had me out last night. Something about a prophecy that needed to be stopped. His calculations were off or something because it didn't pan out."

"Ah," Paige said. "I thought I had sensed you at the Bronze though."

"You probably did," Buffy said. "As I was there for all of two minutes. I saw you dancing with a guy. I didn't want to interrupt your night. So I went on home."

"Well then how about tonight?" Paige asked.

"Tonight," Buffy said. "Let's see, if I rearrange, and move that to next week, and then shift that to – sure. Tonight'll work."

Paige smiled. "I'll orb by your house at seven."

"Seven," Buffy said as a smile graced her lips.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

That evening Buffy is getting ready for her night with Paige.

Willow held up two outfits for Buffy to choose. "Pick."

"Let's see. Do I want to appear shy, coy and naïve, or do I go unrestrained, insatiable and aggressive," Buffy said as she looked between the two outfits.

"You know, Paige is a little homespun. She probably doesn't like that overly-assertive look," Xander said as he looked in Buffy's closet. "Hey, here's something. A nice, comfy overcoat." He pulled out a drab, floor-length overcoat out of the closet. He also pulled out a ski cap. "And this ski cap. The earflaps will bring out your eyes."

Buffy looked to her sister and Willow. "I think I'll mix-n-match." She looked to Xander. "Xander, guy's opinion." She uncapped two lipsticks. "Which one do you think Paige will like better?"

"Oh, you mean for kissing you and then telling everyone how easy you are?" Xander asked.

"Are you jealous?" Dawn asked Xander. "What would Cordy think of you being jealous of Paige?" She looked at her sister. "I'd go with peach."

"Put this on," Willow said as she handed Buffy and outfit.

They turned and looked at Xander.

"You're not bothering me," Xander said.

Willow turned Xander around as Buffy changed into her outfit. "So, where's Paige taking you?"

Buffy shrugged. "I don't know. Where do you suppose everyone is going on dates these days?"

"Well, I read somewhere that sometimes they go to movies," Dawn said.

"Movies. Interesting," Buffy said.

"And once on TV I saw a bunch of people our age at a party," Xander added.

"Wow. I never knew being a teenager was so full of possibilities. Of course Paige isn't a teenager, so …" Buffy said as the doorbell rang. "That is likely Paige." They rushed downstairs and Buffy opened the door to find Giles standing there. "That's Giles."

"Tonight is absolutely the night," Giles said.

"I'm not home," Buffy said as she started to close the door.

"The prophecy is happening," Giles said as he placed a hand on the door to keep it from closing. "Look." He flipped open a newspaper. The headline read: 'SEVEN DIE IN VAN ACCIDENT.' "My theory was correct. Seven people were killed last night."

"Yeah. In a car crash," Buffy said.

"Those deaths were forecast more than three thousand years ago. And listen to this," Giles said. "'Also among the dead was Andrew Borba, whom police had been pursuing for months in connection with a series of brutal assaults.' That's the one the Master is waiting for. He is set to rise with the others tonight. My calculations make me sure of it."

"You were sure of it last night. You showed me charts and drafts and calendars," Buffy argued.

Giles hung his head in shame. "I forgot about leap year."

"Of all the luck. A vampire uprising on the night of your big date. Isn't that always the way?" Xander said.

"Not tonight it ain't," Buffy said.

"Buffy, you have to believe me—" Giles argued.

"You expect me to buy into your open-to-interpretation interpretation when you can't even remember to carry the four?" Buffy asked.

"You must answer your calling."

"Last night I answered it and they put me on hold," Buffy said as Paige orbed in behind Giles.

"Giles," Paige said. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh. He's, uh, out promoting Bookmobile awareness," Buffy said. "As you know we call him gruff but lovable Giles. But enough about him. What's the plan?"

"I was thinking dinner and maybe a movie," Paige said.

"Sounds good," Buffy said as she pushed past Giles.

"So you're just going to go," Giles said.

"If you say so."

"You're just going to ignore the fact that you've been chosen and have a destiny to fulfill," Giles argued.

"What's going on?" Paige inquired.

"It seems that prophecy that Giles thought was happening last night, is happening tonight," Buffy said.

"Alright," Paige said, "Dawn, you go with Giles. If you need us, call, okay?"

"Got ya," Dawn said.

Giles let out a sigh, while he would have preferred having Buffy, having Dawn who was also a witch would be the second best thing. Add on top of that, that should they need Buffy, Dawn could call to Paige who would orb Buffy to them. "Alright," he said reluctantly as he and Dawn turned and left.

Paige took Buffy's hand and orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy sat across from Paige enjoying the casual dinner. "This is nice, Paige."

"I'm glad you like it," Paige replied.

"You know the other day I asked if Phoebe had another premonition and you said maybe."

"Yeah."

"Did she?" Buffy asked.

Paige let out a sigh. "Phoebe is meddling. I'm kind of wondering if she isn't forcing her premonitions."

"Can I ask what exactly she's seeing?"

"I don't know to tell the truth," Paige said. "She saw me giving you the cross and my jacket. She saw us having dinner. I think she's trying to play matchmaker. Not that I don't find you attractive, Buffy, I do. But you're only sixteen."

"I know," Buffy said with a sigh. "But as was pointed out to me. There is nothing illegal with you and I having a casual relationship either. As long as mom doesn't tell you to stay away."

"Phoebe said the same thing. Let's see how things go, after all you have two years before you're legally of age."

Just then Buffy noticed out of the corner of her eye a man pull the hair back from a woman's neck. "Paige," she whispered.

Paige turned and followed Buffy's gaze as the man innocently kissed the woman's neck. "Nothing to worry about," she said as she turned back to Buffy. "You're probably worried about Dawn and Giles and seeing vampire activity where there is none as a result."

"I guess," Buffy said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Dawn leaned against a headstone as Giles paced before her. So far they had been out of luck; there had been no vampire activity at all.

Giles checked his watch and then looked at Dawn. "I guess we can call it a night." As he turned towards his car a vampire dropped down in front of him, baring his fangs. He jumped back beside Dawn. "You don't frighten me," he said confidently.

"I don't think that matters to them," Dawn said as she reached inside her shoulder bag and pulled out a string of garlic while more vampires dropped down behind them. "I think this might be time for a strategic retreat. "Paige!" She then tossed the garlic at the vampires and she and Giles took off. "I really wish I knew what my power was, it might come in handy right now. Or of course it might not."

She and Giles ran into a nearby mortuary and Giles locked the door behind them.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige and Buffy were in line for a movie when Paige heard Dawn's call. "We have to go," Paige said as she looked at Buffy. "Dawn, called."

"Is she?" Buffy asked suddenly concerned.

"I sense she's fine for the moment," Paige said. "But I also sense that could change."

Buffy let out a sigh as she looked at the theater in front of them. "Let's go."

They ran around a corner and into an alley where Paige orbs them out. They orb into the mortuary to find Giles and Dawn nowhere to be seen and two vampires searching the place.

"Viewing hours are over," Buffy said as she pulled out a stake from her purse. One of the vampires lunged at her. She grabbed his arm, twisted him around, and held his arm behind his back. "Funeral services will be held—" She reached around and plunged a stake through his heart and he dusted. "—now."

The other vampire had been circling Paige when Buffy came up from behind him and staked him from behind.

"Buffy?"

"Dawnie?" Buffy asked as she and Paige looked around.

"We're in a couple of the drawers."

Buffy looked at all the drawers on the wall and then at Paige. "Which?"

Paige walked toward the drawers and using her Whitelighter power to sense her charge she located Dawn and let her out.

"Okay, Giles should be in the next one," Dawn said as she opened the one next to hers.

There Giles laid next to a corpse. "So how was your evening?" he asked.

"Apparently, better than yours," Buffy said.

Dawn looked to Paige. "I really need to find out what my power is," she said. "Without Buffy's strength or an active power, and I mean no offense here, Giles, I am not a match for the three vampires we met outside and the two in here."

"We'll try and find out," Paige said. "I promise."

"Well, I suppose I don't have to say that I was correct in my prediction," Giles told them.

"Something tells me you will anyway," Buffy said.

"No, no. I won't bask in the glory and rub your nose in the fact that old Giles was right and that young, inexperienced Buffy was one-hundred percent wrong."

"Giles," Paige warned. "She was not wrong, and neither was I. I just didn't expect this big of a turnout or I would have postponed our night out till tomorrow."

"Well regardless it is just about to begin," Giles said.

"Meaning exactly?" Dawn wondered.

"Our previous two 'guests' were, as you noticed, Dawn, only two. If you'll recall, the announcement about tonight's event specifically stated there would be seven in the attendance."

"So we've seen five of them," Dawn interrupted.

"On the contrary I don't believe we have," Giles continued. "For the invited ones will be dressed in, shall we say, their 'funeral best.'"

"Of course," Paige said as she realized. "They just died. So we're about to face seven vampires at the same time."

"Exactly. And we mustn't forget about the 'guest of honor' who will one of those seven," Giles said.

"So when do they rise?" Buffy wondered.

Unseen by everyone, one of the drawers slowly opened and a vampire sat up.

"I have no idea. They were scheduled to be here by now," Giles said as more drawers opened and four more vampires sat up.

"Maybe this time you forgot to account for Daylight Savings," Buffy said with a roll of her eyes.

"Sorry, we're late."

They all turned to see the five vampires have them surrounded.

The vampires lunged at the group as Buffy dove right, while Dawn, Giles and Paige went on the defense.

"Here. Hold this garlic," Dawn said as she handed Giles a clove of garlic. She pulled out a cross for herself.

Buffy kicked one vampire, punched a second and elbowed a third.

The fourth vampire came at Paige and slammed her head against a drawer knocking her unconscious. He held Paige up by the collar as he taunted Buffy. "Now see what you did? You went and got your friend killed." He lifted Paige's body over his head, and then slammed her to the ground.

Buffy looked at Paige lying on the floor and then glared at the fourth vampire. "You've made me very angry." Without looking away from him, she swiftly extended her arm to the side and staked the third vampire, who promptly dusted. She rolled a wardrobe rack between herself and the fourth vampire and then turned and faced the first vampire just as he landed a kick to her side, doubling her over.

"This old guy's still got some life in him," the first vampire said as he kicked Buffy again, but this time Buffy grabbed his leg and flipped him backwards on to the floor.

"Famous last words," Buffy said as she straddled the first vampire and staked him. The second vampire ran toward her from behind and leapt into the air. She tossed a stake backwards over her shoulder. It sailed through the air and sank into the second vampire's chest.

The fourth vampire grabbed Buffy by her collar as he looked toward the fifth vampire. "Honey, I have a gift for you," he said as he heaved Buffy through the air.

She slammed into the wall and dropped to the floor as the fifth vampire pulled Buffy up by the hair. She tried pinning the fifth vampire against the wall, but the fifth vampire grabbed her arms and pinned them to her side.

"I got her!" said the fifth vampire as the fourth vampire grabbed a stake and headed for Buffy. He raised the stake and brought his arm down to bury it in Buffy's back.

At the last second, Buffy spun the fifth vampire around and the fourth vampire planted the stake in the fifth vampire's heart. "And you two made such a cute couple," she said.

The fourth vampire screamed in rage as he charged at Buffy. She shouldered him in the mid-section and flipped him straight up into the air. She kicked open a coffin, grabbing the stick which propped the lid up. The fourth vampire flew into the coffin as she plunged the stick through his heart.

Buffy looked around at the carnage, but her moment of victory is overshadowed by the sight of Paige heaped in a corner. She walks over to her Whitelighter and knelt down next to her sister. "Is she?" Buffy asked Dawn.

"She's alive," Dawn said with a glance at Buffy. "Just I think got caught off guard. He came out of nowhere. I didn't see him till it was too late."

"Neither did I, Buffy," Giles said as he placed a hand on Buffy's shoulder.

Buffy let out a sigh. "Why did that stupid prophecy have to come true tonight?"

"Evil does not like to wait."

"It waited three thousand years. It couldn't wait one more night?"

"Buffy, I know this may be a small consolation, but you have done a great service to humankind. You prevented the chosen one from freeing the Master," Giles said.

"You think that makes things alright?" Buffy said as she looked up at her Watcher. "Paige would never have been hurt if not for this stupid prophecy. Why did she have to get hurt?"

"I gave up long ago trying to answer such questions," Giles replied.

Suddenly there was a loud thud behind them and they turn to see a sixth vampire.

Buffy rose as she turned to face him. "He's big," she said giving the vampire a once over.

"You can beat him, Buffy. Just remember your training. Don't try anything fancy. Stick with the fundamentals," Giles instructed.

"Stay out of it, Giles. This is between me and him," Buffy said as she began to circle the vampire. "You're the reason my date got hurt.

Paige's eyelids begin to flutter as she comes to. "Buffy …" Dawn started.

"By the time I'm done with you, you'll wish you were dead. Or, weren't dead. I mean—" Buffy said as she leapt at the vampire. They crash 8into a table full or urns, which collapsed beneath them.

"Easy Paige," Dawn said as she held Paige to sit up. "You had pretty bad blow there."

Buffy managed to pin the vampire to the ground as she swung wildly. "Our first date—" she said as she hit him with a left hook. "—and I get Paige hurt!" She then hit him with a right hook and then slammed his head against the floor.

The vampire kicked Buffy off, sending her flying across the room as he got to his feet. He leapt at her as she rolled out of the way and flipped him, sending him crashing to the floor. He reached for her as she dove into a somersault and landed on the other side of him before kicking him in the ribs.

Before he can counter she flipped backward, vaulted vaults off the coffin behind her, and landed with the coffin between them.

"What's going on?" Paige asked as she looked at Buffy and the vampire.

"Let's just say that Buffy is taking her frustrations out on her date being hurt," Dawn replied.

"Date?" Paige said as she looked at Dawn. "Buffy and I …"

"Don't kid yourself, Paige," Dawn said. "Yes there is two obstacles to hurdle, first mom's permission, and secondly that Buffy is still a minor. But I see how Buffy looks at you; I see how you look at her. Don't tell me that last night and tonight was not a date, because it was."

The vampire lunged at Buffy and she hit him with the the coffin lid, smashing him in the face. He staggered backwards into the corner of the room. She cartwheeled over to him, which ended with a flip landing her facing the wrong way.

Buffy realized she was staring at the corner of the room as she turned to face the vampire.

"Oops," he said with maniacal laugh.

And then suddenly the vampire dusted to reveal Paige holding a stake.

"I'm sorry for getting you hurt," Buffy said.

Paige smiled. "It wouldn't be the first time, nor the last time I am sure."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The next day Paige orbed with Leo into the Summers family home and found Joyce sitting in the kitchen having a cup of coffee. "Good your still here," Paige said.

"Hello, Leo," Joyce said as she stood and hugged the man.

"Joyce," Leo said as he returned the embrace. "Paige, what is it that you wanted to talk to us both about together?"

"It's not an easy conversation. And while legally I am not really breaking any laws. I want your permission before it goes any farther," Paige said.

"What goes any farther?" Joyce wondered.

"Dating Buffy."

"Dating … Buffy …" Leo and Joyce said simultaneously.

"I know, I am ten years her senior," Paige said. "She's still in high school. And I know it could be just a crush on both of our parts. She is after all my charge, and I am after all her Whitelighter. But right now I definitely want to see where it goes. Especially with Phoebe's meddling."

"How has Phoebe been meddling?" Leo wondered.

"I don't know if she is forcing them or what. But since she got her premonition power back …"

"What?" Leo said surprised at this information.

"She didn't tell you and Piper?" Paige said surprised at Leo's reaction. "I thought she was going to do that after she had told me."

"No she didn't," Leo said. "So Phoebe has been getting premonitions, about you and Buffy?"

Paige nodded. "At first there was this cross I got for Buffy, she said she saw me giving it to Buffy. Then there was my jacket and finally the little celebratory outing. I think she may have seen more and is steering me to what she has seen. While I don't like her meddling any more than I did when she meddled when I was trying to end the feud between Richard's family and the Callahan's. I want to see where this path she has set me on leads."

"As Buffy's mother, I see the age difference and my first reaction is hell no," Joyce said. "But I remember my relationship with Leo and how we had been forbidden. I don't want that for Buffy. That said, I will allow you and Buffy to find out what this means. Is it a crush like you think or the beginnings of something more? I think both you and Buffy deserve the chance to be with someone who will make you happy. It doesn't hurt any that you both are the same, half-witch half-Whitelighter."

Paige smiled at Joyce and then looked toward Leo.

"I look at my age difference between myself and Joyce or myself and Piper," Leo said. "While physically I'm in my thirties, I'm over seventy years old. And I can't say no when it comes to the age difference." He looked to Joyce. "And really while I understand as Buffy's mother why that is your first reaction. You should also remember us and our age difference."

Joyce sighed. "You're right of course."

"That said, Paige," Leo said as he looked at his former charge and sister-in-law. "I myself have no problems seeing where this may go. And from what you are saying Phoebe may not either. But Piper could. Even though Buffy and Piper do not call each other step-mother and step-daughter, they still are. It might be a little weird for Piper to find her step-daughter is in love with her sister and vice versus."

"I know," Paige said. "I'm going to find a way to discuss this with her that will have her giving me her blessing."

"It should help," Joyce said. "That both Leo and I have approved of you finding out where these feelings are going."


	14. Chapter 14: The Pack Part 1

**Chapter 14: The Pack Part 1**

Buffy strolled next to Paige and Dawn through the Sunnydale Zoo, enjoying the way the sun warmed her cheeks on this cool spring day. She let out a small sigh as she looked at the map. "Why is it all zoos are absolutely alike?"

"Oh, look."

The familiar voice caught their attention and they looked in its direction. Kyle DuFours. Creepy Kyle, Willow called him sometimes, came toward them accompanied by the kids he was always with: Rhonda Kelley, Tor Hauer, and Heidi Barrie. Always together, always annoying.

"It's Buffy and Dawn," Kyle said, he had noticed Paige but otherwise ignored her; after all she wasn't a real teacher, just an assistant librarian. "And all their friends."

Paige rolled her eyes. "Mr. DuFours," she said. "You have better things to do with your time than to try and come up with some witty line that will fail to be witty."

Tor fixed his gaze on the sisters as he ignored Paige. "Do you ever wonder why nobody cool ever wants to hang out with you two?" he asked.

"We're just thankful," Dawn replied.

"Were you this popular at your old school?" Rhonda asked, getting in on the action. "Before you got kicked out?"

"More," Dawn said with a smirk. "Buffy was head cheerleader."

Paige let out a sigh as they walked away. "Being only Giles' assistant …"

"We know, Paige," Buffy replied. "Not being a teacher, can be rough when it comes to discipline."

"Yes."

Buffy, Dawn and Paige all stopped to read a display outside the elephant enclosure.

Another voice called out to them. Also familiar, but more friendly. "Hey! Buffy! Dawn! Paige!"

They looked up to see Xander and Willow running toward her. They looked happy, like they were truly enjoying this little escapade.

"You missed it!" Willow said enthusiastically.

"Missed what?" Dawn asked.

"We saw the zebras mating," Xander said. "Thank you, very exciting."

"It looked like the Heimlich. With stripes," Willow added. Her wide smile was usually infectious, but it didn't spread to the sisters this time, though it did spread to Paige.

"And we missed it," Buffy said, with mock sadness. "Yet, somehow we'll find the courage to live on."

They started walking, headed nowhere in particular. "Where were you three?" Willow asked them.

"We were looking at the fishes," Dawn replied.

"Was it cool?"

Buffy thought about that for a moment. "It was fishes."

"I'm feeling that you guys are not in the field trip spirit here," Xander said, as if picking up on their decided lack of excitement.

"Well, it . . . it's nothing." Buffy couldn't quite summon the energy to shrug. "Anyway, we did the same zoo trip at my old school every year. Same old, same old."

"Yeah it got boring after you've seen everything so many times," Dawn agreed.

"Buffy, Dawn, this is not just about looking at a bunch of animals," Xander explained. "This is about not being in class."

Paige smiled. "Xander does kind of have a point. Look at it as a way of getting to go to school but cutting at the same time."

This time, the sisters did smile. "You know, you both are right," Buffy said. "Suddenly the animals look shiny and new."

"Gotta have perspective," Xander said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The chimpanzee enclosure looked like a granite cliff. On a rocky shelf, three chimps — mother, father, and baby — shared lunch. Or, the mother and father did. The young one shrieked and grabbed, but the adults managed to keep their food to themselves.

Lance Lincoln leaned on the rail at the enclosure's edge, spiral notebook open, scribbling down his observations on the chimp family's meal. For him, a field trip wasn't about being away from school, it was about having an opportunity for some good solid insight into primate behavior. He was so involved in his research that he didn't hear the four pairs of footsteps approaching him from behind.

"Lance!"

He turned around. Kyle and his friends, bearing down on him. Swell, he thought. Victim, thy name is Lance.

"How's it going?" Kyle asked. Like we're old buddies or something.

"Hey, Kyle," he replied evenly.

Kyle leaned on the railing next to him, glanced at the chimps. "So this is like a, um, family reunion?"

"No." Well — from an evolutionary perspective, maybe. But to go there with Kyle? He didn't think so.

Kyle went on as if Lance hadn't said anything. "I think it's a family reunion. It's so touching. Doesn't anybody have a camera?" He mimicked whipping one out, snapping a picture.

Lance flashed back to grade school, when his love for reruns of the old TV show "Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp" had become common knowledge. Given his name, it would have been hard for him not to be drawn to the show, and it was probably what kick-started his interest in primatology. But the flack he'd taken from schoolmates calling him Lance Link, or Sir Lancelot, had almost driven him away from that calling.

Compared to these bullies, those kids were nothing, he thought.

Rhonda came up behind Lance and started tugging at the hairs on the back of his head. "Hey, does your mom still pick out your lice?" she asked. "Or are you old enough to do that yourself now?"

"Quit it," Lance demanded. He jerked his head away from her.

And in doing so, turned just enough that Tor was able to snatch his notebook from his hand. "Hey! Guys, come on," Lance said, grabbing for the notebook. "I've got all my notes in there!" But Tor held it over his head, out of Lance's reach. Only in the back of his mind, where he catalogued such things, did he vaguely realize that the whole scene duplicated the chimp behavior, with the larger chimps holding food away from the little one. Terrific. I'm the little monkey, he thought.

The group's laughter was interrupted by the voice of Mr. Flutie, Sunnydale High's principal. "What's going on here?" he asked.

Lance watched him approach. He was no fashion expert, but even he knew Mr. Flutie's plaid sports coat was just wrong. It hung open in front, as if both his belly and his sense of self-importance were too swollen to allow it to button. A shock of dark hair sat atop his head like an afterthought, or a small furry mammal abandoned there by some predator.

"I have had it up to here with you four," Mr. Flutie said. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Kyle insisted.

Flutie planted himself in front of Kyle. "Did I ask you to speak? Okay, I guess I did. But I want the truth." He looked at Lance. "Lance?"

Tell the truth — or survive? No real contest. "They weren't doing anything. Really," Lance went along.

He even forced a chuckle. "We were just playing around." Like I'd play around with these guys.

And yet, Mr. Flutie bought it. "All right." Mr. Flutie started to go, then stopped, swiveled, and raked a finger like a machine gun across the chests of the four troublemakers. "I'll be watching you," he said, then turned again and headed down the path.

"You," Kyle said, pointing at Lance's face. Lance didn't like the sound of that — or that finger in his eyes. Now what? "Came through big time," Kyle went on.

"Way to go, Lance," Rhonda added, patting him on the arm like an old friend.

"Flutie's been looking for a reason to come down on us," Tor said.

Whew. "It's okay," Lance said, trying not to sound too relieved.

Kyle reached out, gripped Lance's collarbone, somewhere between a pal and a prison warden. "Come on. We're gonna check out the hyena house."

Lance hesitated. "But — I think it's off limits."

"And therein, my friend, lies the fun."

Lance chuckled again, but to him it sounded even less real than the one he'd given Mr. Flutie. He didn't quite know how to extricate himself — that had been a bonding moment of some kind, he figured, and now they were a unit. He went along.

The pathway to the hyena house was blocked off by yellow caution tape, and signs on easels read

"Positively No Admittance." Yet another sign said "Closed." Orange lights flashed on the warning signs.

The meaning was pretty clear, Lance figured. The zoo officials didn't want anyone wandering into the hyena exhibit.

Which, according to Kyle, was the "fun part." Lance couldn't quite figure, but he was willing to go along. After all, they were being nice to him, which was a first. And besides, they had him more or less surrounded. Rhonda lifted the caution tape and they ducked under, headed down the path.

Hyenas, here we come.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige, Xander, Willow, and Buffy weren't far behind. They saw Lance go under the tape and disappear down the path.

"What are Kyle and his buds doing with Lance?" Willow asked.

To Xander, the answer was clear. "Playing with him, as the cat plays with the mouse."

"What is it with those guys?" Dawn asked. They stopped at the tape, looking down the path. Lance and the others were gone from sight.

"They're obnoxious," Willow said. "Professionally."

"Every school has 'em," Xander explained. "You start a school, you get desks, some blackboards, and some mean kids."

Buffy started toward the tape. "Yeah, well, I better extract Lance before —"

But Xander raised a hand to her, stopping her in her tracks. "I'll handle it," he offered. "This job doesn't require actual slaying."

"No," Paige said as she stopped Xander in his tracks. "This requires someone with a little more authority."

"They didn't take to your authority much earlier," Dawn reminded Paige.

"Well they will this time," Paige responded. She looked around and made sure no one was watching. "If you guys see anyone from the zoo, keep them out as long as you can." She then orbed out.

They looked around and spotted a zookeeper approaching the hyena enclosure and they made a beeline toward him.

"Hi," Dawn said. "I was just wondering if you could tell me why the Hyena enclosure is off limits?"

"It's a quarantine. These hyenas just came from Africa. So keep out." His voice indicated that he would accept no response other than obedience. But he raised a single eyebrow, giving his face a slightly friendlier aspect. Then he said something that Buffy found very strange. "Even if they call your name."

"What're you talking about?" Buffy asked.

The zookeeper looked even more like a professor as he launched into lecture mode. "A Masai tribesman once told me that hyenas can understand human speech. They follow humans around by day, learning their names." His voice lowered. Now he sounded like a man telling a ghost story. "At night, when the campfire dies, they call out to the person. And once they separate him" — he snapped his fingers — "the pack devours him."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

There was more caution tape at the actual entrance to the hyena enclosure. Kyle just ripped it down as he passed through it, so that he was festooned in it for a moment, yellow against his yellow shirt. It was dark in here, shaded, and cooler than outside. The walls were artificial rock, a man-made cave with cutaways for illuminated displays, and a larger one for the hyenas themselves, up a couple of steps, chest-high bars across the front.

Kyle looked around, turning slowly. "Cool."

"I don't see any hyenas," Lance said.

Almost as if on cue, a hyena stepped forward from the gloom of its pen, revealing a dark, almost black muzzle, full of large, pointed teeth. It growled. It didn't sound friendly.

"Okay," he said. "Now we've seen it." He turned to go, but Tor was standing right behind him, blocking his way.

And the others hadn't had enough, it seemed. "It looks cute," Rhonda said.

"I think it looks hungry," Kyle said. He stepped away from the bars. He and Tor grabbed Lance, muscled him up the steps toward the cage.

"Come on, Spot!" Tor growled as they dragged Lance forward. "Suppertime!" They held him in front of the bars — which now seemed considerably shorter and less substantial than they had just a minute ago.

The hyena growled again, deep in its throat. Someone had a hand on the back of Lance's head, pushing his face into the cage. Everyone laughed — except Lance.

"Ow!" he complained just as Paige orbed in. "Stop it! That's not funny!"

Paige leapt up the stairs and into the thick of it, yanking people's arms away from Lance. Sh shoved Lance out of their reach, down the stairs. When Lance was safely away, Paige found herself eyeball to eyeball with Kyle.

"Mr. DuFour," Paige started.

Kyle glared at Paige, not giving an inch. "What, are you gonna get in my face, _teach_? Or are you going to go back to the library where you belong?"

The hyena interrupted the stare-down with another long, low growl. It raised its head into the light again, growling more, and then they were all looking at it. The thing was not lovely, but its eyes held a mesmerizing quality, and the five of them found themselves staring into those eyes.

Barely noticing when the eyes flashed with an eerie green glow.

And, of course, they couldn't see their own eyes. Flashing an answering green.

Nor did they, at this moment, notice the bizarre red design painted on the enclosure's floor. The design on which they all stood. Their attention was riveted on the hyena, growling and moving in its cage.

Lance took advantage of their distraction to make his escape. He started for the exit. Tripped. His notebook slid across the damp floor. He grabbed it up again, hoisted himself to his feet. But the others had heard him fall, were turning — weirdly, turning slowly but in unison — and laughing. Laughing at him, their laughter rising in pitch, becoming almost hysterical.

Paige, who had rescued him, was the last to turn, the only one out of synch, and Lance didn't know what he expected to see on her face but it wasn't what he saw, which was a smile. She wasn't laughing like the others, but the smile — knowing, and without a trace of kindness or real humor — was almost worse.

Lance ran.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The Bronze was crowded — like that was news. When there's only one decent club in town where kids under twenty-one can hear music, drink coffee, dance, and hang out, it's likely to draw a crowd.

Buffy, Dawn and Willow turned away from the pastry counter. Both Dawn and Willow had carried a croissant and a soda each. Buffy had settled for a box of raisins.

"I thought Paige would be here by now," Buffy said as they threaded their way toward the table that Xander and Cordelia sat at.

"You know Giles," Dawn said. "Probably having her categorizing something."

"Did she seem at all upset on the bus back from the zoo?" Buffy asked.

"About what?" Willow wondered.

"I don't know," Buffy said. "She was quiet."

Dawn slid onto a seat at the chest-high table. "I didn't notice anything."

"What are we talking about?" Xander wondered.

"Paige," Willow said. "Buffy was just asking if she seemed upset on the bus back from the zoo."

"Not that I recall," Xander said as Willow and Buffy also slid onto a stool.

"Of course we're not as hyper-aware of Paige as, oh, say, for example, you," Dawn said as she jabbed at her sister.

"Hyper-aware?" Buffy asked.

"Well," Dawn said. "I'm not constantly monitoring Paige's health, her moods, her blood pressure —"

Buffy knew that one. "One-twenty over eighty."

Cordelia laughed. "You got it bad," she said as Buffy smiled. "Especially when Paige has given you what not one, but two gifts – both of which your wearing – and taken you out to dinner."

"Not even for a dangerous and mysterious older man whose leather jacket you're wearing right now?"

Buffy glanced at the jacket Paige had given her. "It goes with the shoes," she insisted.

"Come on," Willow said, having none of it. "Paige pushes your buttons. You know she does."

Buffy sighed as she nodded and then out of the corner of her eyes she spotted Paige. "There she is!"

Paige wended her way through the crowd, wearing a very form fitting black dress. She sauntered, stopping now and again to look at both men and women, smile at both men and women, flirt with both men and women. Finally, she made her way to their table. "Girls, Xander," she said.

"Paige," Dawn replied.

"Sorry I'm late," Paige went on. "I just forgot you all invited me out with you tonight." She looked at Dawn's plate.

"Hungry," she said, tearing off a chunk of Dawn's croissant and shoving it into her mouth. She then indicated Dawn's snack. "What is this crap?"

"Well, it was my buttery croissant," Dawn said.

"I need some food," Paige said. Her voice carried a tinge of anger, as if Dawn had ordered the pastry just to offend her. "Birds live on this."

But apparently she wasn't too angry to notice the look that passed between Dawn, Cordelia, Xander, Buffy and Willow. "What?" she asked with an anxious smile.

"What's up with you?" Cordelia asked.

Buffy took it more personally. She fiddled nervously with her raisin box. "Is something wrong? Did I do something?"

"What could you possibly do?" Paige asked. "That's crazy talk. I'm just restless."

"Well, we could go to the ice cream place . . ." Willow offered.

Paige raised her head, peering over the crowd, as if looking for something. Or just surveying her territory. She scratched her chest. "I like it here."

And as if the way she'd been acting wasn't bizarre enough, she began to sniff Buffy's hair.

"Okay, now what?" Buffy asked.

"You took a bath," she explained. Although "explained" wasn't the word for it, since it didn't actually explain anything. She kept scratching at her shirt.

"Yeah, I often do. I'm actually known for it."

"That's okay," Paige said.

Slipping into announcer-speak, Xander said, "And the weird behavior award goes to . . ."

But Paige wasn't even listening anymore. Her attention had become riveted on the door. They all turned to see what she was so intent on.

And was instantly sorry they had.

Kyle, Heidi, Tor, and Rhonda. The good-time gang.

"Oh, great," Buffy said. "It's the winged monkeys."

They walked through the Bronze, making a beeline for the table they were gathered around. Paige couldn't look away, couldn't blink, and was only somewhat aware of that fact. Her eyes had locked with Kyle's the moment he came through the door, and they stayed locked.

They reached the table, each of them looking only at Paige. She acknowledged them wordlessly as they went by, and turned to keep them in sight as they passed.

They stopped at a nearby table — one that was already occupied by a couple of kids. One was a stocky guy in a plaid shirt, the other thinner and familiar-looking, though Xander couldn't place him. Kyle and Rhonda leaned on the big guy's shoulders, and his tablemate silently scooted his chair back and left.

"You know," Kyle said. "I don't understand why you're sitting at our table."

"Yeah," Rhonda added. "Shouldn't you be hovering over the football stadium with 'Goodyear' written on you?"

They all laughed at that, Paige included. She was still laughing when she turned back to the table, and came face-to-face with Buffy's expression, which said she definitely didn't get the joke.

"Kid's fat," Paige said. She looked at Dawn, Cordelia, Xander and Willow and saw that they didn't get the joke either.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The next day, Buffy met Giles for their scheduled sparring session. She threw a right, a left, spun and came out of the spin with another right, spun again into a kick, then leapt into the air, kicking out with both feet at once into Giles' gloves. Hitting hard, not holding back.

Breathing hard, too.

She advanced on him again. He waved his gloves.

"Right," Giles said. "That's enough training for one day."

"Well, that last roundhouse was kind of sloppy. Sure you don't want to do it again?" Buffy asked.

"No, that's fine." He was breathing hard too. "You run along to class," he panted, "while I wait for the feeling to return to my arms."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

As Buffy neared a corner of the hallway, she heard a commotion from the other side. Students shrieked.

And over it all, sounding somewhat strained, the unmistakable voice of Principal Flutie.

"Look out!" he cried. "It's gotten loose!"

There were more shrieks. They didn't sound terrified — and it was broad daylight — so her Slayer hackles didn't rise, but she was curious. She hurried toward the corner.

"Stop the beast!" Mr. Flutie called.

Then she rounded the corner and saw it, darting straight for her. A tiny pink piglet, running like pork chops were on the school lunch menu. Probably it was trying to get away from the ridiculous outfit someone had dressed it in.

Buffy bent over and snagged the piglet, lifting it into her arms. The poor thing was wearing a tiny Sunnydale High football helmet with papier-mâché tusks attached at the sides of his snout and had a row of green foam triangles stuck to its back, like a cartoon dinosaur's fins.

Mr. Flutie caught up to them. "Naughty Herbert," he said. "Gave Mr. Flutie quite a scare, didn't he?"

He drew himself up, addressing the students crowding the hallway. "Students, I'd like you all to meet Herbert, our new mascot for the Sunnydale High Razorbacks!" This was met with a smattering of applause.

"He's so cute!" Buffy said.

"He's not cute," Mr. Flutie insisted. "No, he's a fierce Razorback." He pumped his fists into the air, and there was some halfhearted clapping.

Buffy studied the poor, over-accessorized pig. "He doesn't look mean, Mr. Flutie."

"He's mean, he's ready for action." Mr. Flutie indicated Herbert's add-ons. "See, here are the tusks, and ... a scary ... razorback." The green fins. Now she got it.

"You're right," Buffy agreed. Sometimes a principal had to be humored. "He is a fine mascot and will engender school spirit."

"Well, he'd better — costs a fortune to feed him." He bent down, spoke directly to Herbert. "Let's get you back in your cage." He reached for the pig, and Herbert let out a squeal. Mr. Flutie backed off, gestured for Buffy to carry the new mascot.

"This way," he said. Buffy led the way, the piglet oinking contentedly in her arms.


	15. Chapter 15: The Pack Part 2

**Chapter 15: The Pack Part 2**

Mr. Flutie showed Buffy to a classroom in which a cage was set up for Herbert.

"See, the problem is," he said as they walked, "you kids today have no school spirit. Hold on, let me get his outfit off." He removed Herbert's helmet and foam razorback. "Today it's all gangs and drugs and those movies on Showtime with the nudity." Looking at Buffy, he quickly added, "I don't have cable. I only heard."

More passionately, he went on. "When I was your age, we cared about the school's reputation, the team's record, all that stuff." Then, as if he realized what he was saying, he amended himself. "Of course, when I was your age I was surrounded by old guys telling me how much better things were when they were my age." He gave up then, and went in to prepare the cage for Herbert's arrival.

Buffy gave a small laugh. "Yeah," she said, more to Herbert than to Mr. Flutie. For a principal, he isn't always as clueless as he seems, she thought.

Buffy was still standing there holding the pig when Paige entered the hallway through the double doors to outside. She didn't say anything, just gave her the slightest glance and gave Herbert a prolonged stare as she passed by. Which Buffy thought was odd, though not necessarily any more so than the rest of her behavior had been lately.

No, what really creeped her was that Paige gave the pig the wiggins. Herbert squealed, terrified, and wriggled in her arms like he wanted to beat his own personal best at the hundred-yard dash. It was all she could do just to hang on to him. He kept squealing and writhing until Paige was long out of sight.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

A sudden storm had rolled over Sunnydale during the day, unleashing driving rain and booming thunder.

Rain had its pluses and minuses, but one of the big minuses was that P.E. had to be held indoors, in the big old gym. And Coach Herrold, not huge on imagination to begin with, had a limited repertoire of activities that he could think up for indoor workouts, especially once basketball season was over.

Coach Herrold was a big man with silver hair and a military bearing. Buffy had heard rumors that he'd served as a drill sergeant for years, finally getting out and becoming a high school coach because it was the only other place where he could command blind obedience.

"All right, it's raining," he said, marching up and back between the two assembled ranks of P.E. students and Paige. Paige had volunteered for some very odd reason to help out since it was raining, not that he was complaining. "All regular gym classes have been postponed. So you know what that means . . . dodgeball." He held a ball up in one big fist, as if to demonstrate to anyone who hadn't caught on yet what a dodgeball looked like. "Now, for those of you who may have forgotten, the rules are as follows: you dodge."

He tossed his ball to Buffy, stepped out of the center, and blew his ever present whistle. The two sides backed away from each other, toward opposite walls, everyone already eyeing their intended targets.

Coach Herrold blew the whistle again and rubber flew.

"One down," someone said as the first kid was tagged by one of the red balls. More went down quickly, stepping aside to the bench. To survive in dodgeball, you had to be light on your feet, with the reflexes to avoid the flying balls, yet still fast enough to grab any that came your way so you could knock out members of the opposing team. Dawn, Buffy and Willow had all started with balls, but that only gave the most momentary of advantages.

Buffy had the distinct sense that she was being particularly targeted by Rhonda Kelley, but that was hard to know for sure in a game where everyone was, by definition, a target. Some people threw the ball harder than others, though, and Buffy dodged a couple of well-aimed burners that came uncomfortably close. Then she caught a glimpse of Paige winding up for a powerful throw. Before she even had a chance to wonder who he was targeting, she saw — Dawn had just thrown a good one, followed through on her throw, and her back was mostly to Paige. Paige's ball slammed into her shoulder, hard.

The look Dawn tossed Paige's way as she slunk toward the bench almost broke Buffy's heart. She knew that Paige was only Dawn's Whitelighter. But she had figured that Paige was at least her sister's friend.

Buffy didn't have time to dwell on the matter. Willow, her last teammate was knocked out, and she realized it was just she facing down six opponents.

And not just any six.

Paige, Xander, Kyle, Rhonda, Tor and Heidi. Buffy flashed back on the Bronze, last night, and the zoo trip before that. This is too weird, she thought. She faced them for a moment, but then, almost as one, they turned away from her. Looked at Xander. Held the look.

Xander returned it.

Kyle threw the first ball. Hard, at close range. Xander went down on the wooden gym floor. Kyle scooped up another ball, slammed Xander again. Then they were all throwing balls, pounding Xander into the floor like they wanted to nail him to it.

Buffy ran, across no-man's land and into the middle of it all. She took her friend's hand, hoisted him to his feet and away from the punishing balls. A couple of balls bounced harmlessly now, but no one was throwing any more. They were just looking at Buffy silently. She caught Paige's gaze, stared into her Whitelighter's eyes as if hoping to see something there. Some glimmer of the Paige she had known.

But there was nothing. She was a stranger. She turned away, and Kyle, Rhonda, Tor and Heidi followed.

Game over. A satisfactory class session, at least to one person. "God, this game is brutal," Coach Herrold said as they filed out. "I love it."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy, Dawn, Xander and Willow waited outside the gym for Paige. They leaned against a bank of lockers, and when she came out she was accompanied by Kyle, Tor, Heidi, and Rhonda. They were all dressed in dark, blacks and browns, almost like a uniform.

"Paige," Dawn said, stepping toward her. They had all seen it, they were all concerned. "What's wrong with you?"

With a glance back toward the others, Paige moved away from them. "I guess you've noticed that I've been different around you all, lately," she said, her voice low and intimate.

"Yes," they all answered.

"I think, um . . ." she paused, as if searching for the right words. "I think it's because my feelings for you all have been changing. You all no longer need my guidance. Good luck."

She started to laugh then, and the others joined in. The group of them sounded sick to Buffy, Dawn, Willow and Xander, laughing hard.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"I don't understand Paige," Dawn said with a shake of her head. "She's our Whitelighter and she doesn't want to guide us anymore?"

"I think something's wrong with her," Buffy said.

"Or it could be something with the rest of us," Xander countered. "Think about it. She's been sniffing you a lot, Buffy. But not the rest of us, why?"

"You think this has something to do with me?" Buffy asked.

"We don't know," Willow said. "But it's possible."

Buffy shook her head. "No," she said firmly. "That still doesn't explain why Paige is hanging out with the dode patrol." She slid down from the wall. "Something's going on. Something weird." She started past Dawn, Xander and Willow.

"What are you going to do?" Dawn asked.

Buffy turned to face them once more. "Gonna talk to the experts on weird."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

One of those experts could only be Giles, who she found in his usual haunt, the school library.

He'd been cataloguing, she figured, because he was carrying a clipboard and one of those little cards from the card catalogue with him as he moved from place to place.

While he was cataloguing she was talking and following him around.

"Paige's taken to teasing the less fortunate?"

"Uh-huh," Buffy said.

"There's been a noticeable change in both clothing and demeanor?"

"Yes."

"And spends all her spare time lounging about with imbeciles?" Giles said. Even he found that kind of behavior coming from Paige to be out of character. If it had been Xander for example he could attribute it to hormones. But it was Paige, and over the last few weeks she had never shown that kind of behavior. "Alright, I don't know what to look under for this. But I'll start researching. You might want to call her sisters and see if Paige might have given them a hint on what happened."

Buffy nodded, she headed into Giles' office as she thought back on everything that had happened since she started noticing the change in Paige. "Wait," she said as she came back. "Paige and the others have been laughing much like a hyena."

"Are you saying Paige's becoming a hyena?" Giles asked.

"I don't know," Buffy said. "Or been possessed by one. Not just Paige, all of them."

"Well, I've certainly never heard of —" Giles started.

Then Dawn charged into the library, clearly upset. "Herbert," she exclaimed. "They found him!"

"The pig?" Buffy asked.

"Dead," Dawn replied. "And also, eaten! Principal Flutie's freaking out."

Buffy looked at Giles. "I think I better get on the phone to Piper and Phoebe."

"Right," Giles said as he headed for the stacks. "And I better start trying to find reference, either to possession or some form of animal transformation."

Buffy walked back into Giles' office and picked up the phone as she dialed. She waited a second before she heard a voice on the other end.

"Halliwell Residence, Leo Wyatt speaking."

"Dad, it's Buffy. Is Piper and Phoebe there?"

"Buffy?" Leo said noting the tone of his daughter's voice. "What's wrong?"

"Paige," Buffy said. "I think she maybe possessed or transforming into …"

"A demon," Leo finished for Buffy. "I'll get Piper, hold on."

Buffy waited a moment and then she heard Piper's voice over the phone. "Buffy, what is wrong with Paige?"

"As I was just telling dad, I think Paige is possessed or transforming into a hyena," Buffy said. "Did you, Dad or Phoebe notice anything unusual last night about Paige?"

"Now that you mention it," Piper said. "She did seem different. You're sure she is either possessed or transforming into a demon."

"The evidence keeps adding up in that direction," Buffy replied. "There is the laugh, like a hyena. There is the fact she is being aggressive, not like herself. And Dawn just said they found a pig that the principal had bought as a school mascot, eaten, raw."

"It sounds like you may be right. I'll try and find out what I can from here. I need you to try something though."

"What?" Buffy wondered.

"Orb, with Paige in trouble, you may need us. And if we have to drive down it will be seven hours before we get to Sunnydale."

"I … I never tried," Buffy said.

"Okay this is what I told Paige when she was first orbing. Relax and take a deep breath. Feel the magic rising from a place of strength. Feel it building and building," Piper instructed her. "Practice orbing. I'll call you when we have something on our end."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy was doing as Piper instructed. She had managed so far to orb in one spot after the first hour of practice.

Dawn sat on the steps leading up to the stacks, a huge folio across her lap. Willow sat at a table, reading one of her own. Buffy and Willow looked up when Dawn spoke. "Wow," Dawn said. "Apparently Noah rejected hyenas from the Ark because he thought they were an evil, impure mixture of dogs and cats."

"Hyenas aren't well-liked," Willow agreed.

"They do seem to be the shmoes of the animal kingdom," Dawn said, bringing the book down to show Buffy and Willow a picture.

"Why couldn't Paige be possessed by a puppy?" Buffy asked. "Or some ducks?"

"That's assuming 'possession' is the right word," Dawn said.

"Oh, I'd say it is," Giles offered. He emerged from his office. "Piper called, she found something. Something I myself should have remembered. The Masai of the Serengeti have spoken of animal possession for generations. She said if you managed to orb to go ahead and come and get her otherwise she'll remain by the phone."

"So how does this possession work?" Buffy asked.

"Well," he explained, "apparently there's a sect of animal worshippers, known as Primals. They believe that humanity — consciousness, the soul — is a perversion, a dilution of spirit. To them, the animal state is holy. They're able, through transpossession, to draw the spirit of certain animals into themselves."

"And then they start acting like hyenas."

"Only the most predatory animals were of interest to Primals," Giles said. "So yes, that would fit."

"So what happens to the person once the spirit is in them?" Buffy asked.

"If it goes unchecked?" Giles said. Instead of answering, he handed Buffy a massive volume he carried.

She looked at the page he showed her, horror creeping over her face as she did. She slammed the book shut, put it down on the table next to Dawn, and headed for the door. "I gotta find Paige," she said.

Dawn reached for the book, tugged it to herself, flipped it open to the page Giles had shown Buffy. An old engraving on the page seemed to show a feast of some kind. But the main course didn't look to Dawn like hyena chow, or even raw piglet. It was humans — missing arms, legs, even heads, all depicted in graphic and gory detail.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy found the classroom to which she'd delivered Herbert before. The door was open. Inside, the cage Mr. Flutie had bought for Herbert was bent and twisted apart; the heavy wire looked as if animals had been at it.

The floor was littered with straw from the cage — and something else. She bent over, picked one up. It was almost eight inches long, a little bigger around than her finger. Broken at the end, as if something had snapped it — or bit it, maybe in search of marrow.

"Pig bones," she said.

She put it back in the mess on the floor and stood to leave. There was nothing more to learn here. She turned . . .

And there Paige was, right behind her. Her face held a malicious grin.

"Paige."

Paige didn't speak, just took a step closer to her. Buffy sidestepped, to go around her, but she moved to block her. Obviously she wasn't going to just let Buffy pass, so she tried another approach.

"This is ridiculous," Buffy said. "We need to talk — " Only instead of talking, she leapt at Paige, hands at her shoulders, driving her backward. Paige went down, and she landed on her chest, driving Paige into the floor.

Paige just laughed. "I've been waiting for you to jump my bones," she said. She growled an animalistic snarl and heaved, catching Buffy by surprise with a strength she didn't know Paige had. Paige bucked Buffy off of her and spun her over, so that Buffy was on her back, looking up into Paige's face. Paige pinned Buffy's wrists to the tiled floor.

"Get off of me!"

"Is that what you really want?" Paige asked. Buffy tried to hurl her off, but she was strong — even for Buffy, the Slayer.

Buffy gave an extra push, testing herself, really, to see if she was holding back because she was Paige, her girlfriend. A hyena-possessed girlfriend, maybe, but a girlfriend just the same. "We both know what you really want," Paige went on.

"You're in trouble, Paige," Buffy tried. "You are infected with some hyena thing. It's like a demonic possession —"

Paige ignored Buffy, cutting her off as if she hadn't even spoken. "We both know what you want, Buffy. Have since we met. Do you know how long I've waited?" As she spoke, she released one wrist, caressed Buffy's blond hair gently with her hand.

Buffy took full advantage of Paige's distraction. With the help of her free hand, she was able to throw Paige off her and scramble to her feet. "I don't wanna hurt you, Paige," she said, backing away from Paige's relentless advance. But it was bluff, and she knew it. She couldn't bring herself to really hurt Paige. She just hoped Paige wouldn't realize that.

Paige didn't. She lunged, slamming Buffy backward into a vending machine. Someone's long-lost change clinked down into the coin return. "Now do you wanna hurt me?" she asked. "C'mon, Slayer — I like it when you're scared." Buffy struggled against her but she held her tight, sniffing the air around Buffy. "The more I scare you, the better you smell."

Then Paige stopped talking, forced her head in between Buffy's jaw and shoulders, and began to savagely kiss her neck.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

School had long since let out, and darkness had descended on Sunnydale. Willow and Dawn sat alone in the shadowed library, at two of the computer workstations Giles had reluctantly agreed to allow in his sanctuary. On the screen before them was video footage of a pack of hyenas. They were terrifying to watch as they savagely tore at their prey, a wildebeest they had brought down.

The door opened and Buffy entered, dragging a heavy load behind her. "Hurry up!" she called to her sister and Willow. "We've gotta lock Paige up somehow, before she comes to."

Not just any heavy load, Willow realized. "Omigod, Paige — what happened?"

"I hit her," Buffy answered.

"You … hit her," Dawn said. "With what?"

Buffy headed for the cage, Willow and Dawn alongside, looking for signs of damage on Paige, who was out cold. They couldn't see any signs of impact.

"A desk," Buffy replied, Dawn opened the cage door, hauling Paige into the cage. "Not that I don't want Paige in that way, but she tried her hand at felony statutory rape."

"Oh, Buffy," Dawn said, horrified. "The hyena in her didn't —"

"No. No, but it's safe to say that in her animal state, her idea of wooing somebody doesn't include a Yanni CD and a bottle of Chianti." Buffy came out of the cage, closed the door behind her, turned the key. She jingled the keys in her hand as she crossed to a desk. "There, that oughta hold her once I've found a way to keep her from orbing. Where's Giles?"

"He got a call to some teacher's meeting," Willow told her.

Buffy took a big swallow from a bottle of water and headed into Giles' office. She picked up the phone and dialed.

"Halliwell residence, Phoebe speaking," came Phoebe voice from the phone.

"Phoebe, it's Buffy," Buffy said. "I need a way to keep Paige from orbing."

"Use the binding spell your mom used on you," Phoebe suggested. "It can be reversed at any time."

"Thanks," Buffy said. She ran back into the main room of the library and pulled out a journal out of her backpack.

When they had found out that Joyce did not have a Book of Shadows Paige had Buffy and Dawn keep a journal temporarily till they could write up their own family Book of Shadows.

Buffy flipped through her journal to the page she was looking for and walked over to the book cage and Paige. She motioned to Dawn who joined her. "I take your hands in mine," Buffy and Dawn chanted. "And with this string I will entwine, your powers I'll forever bind. From now until the end of time."

"Now," Buffy said. "I'm going to find the rest of the pack."

Giles walked in just then. "The rest of the pack were spotted outside Herbert the mascot's cage. They were sent to the principal's office."

"Good. That'll show 'em," Willow said. The look on Giles's face wasn't reassuring. "Did it show 'em?"

"They didn't hurt him, did they?" Buffy asked.

"They, uh, ate him."

Willow sank into a chair.

"They ate Principal Flutie?" Dawn said.

"Ate him up?" Willow added.

"The official theory is that wild dogs got into his office somehow," Giles said. "There was no one at the scene."

Dawn found the bright spot—A tiny one, but bright just the same. "But Paige didn't — she was with you," she said to Buffy.

"Oh," Giles said, seeing Paige unconscious in the cage for the first time. "Well, that's a small mercy. How are you going to keep her in there?"

"Buffy and I temporarily bound her powers," Dawn told him. "She can't orb. We'll unbind them when she's herself again."

"Good," Giles replied as Xander entered through the doors.

"Giles, how do we stop this?" Buffy asked. "How do you transpossess someone?"

"I'm afraid I still don't have all the pieces," Giles replied. "Accounts of the Primals and their methods are a bit thin on the ground. There is some talk of a predatory act, but the exact ritual is . . ." He shook his head, and picked up one of his massive books. He flipped to a certain page, and continued. "The 'Malleus Maleficarum' deals with the particulars of demonic possession, which may apply."

He put the book down on the table, flipping a few more pages. "Yes, one should be able to transfer the spirits to another human —"

"Any volunteers?" Xander interrupted. He looked to Buffy. "I didn't see the rest of the pack. I went looking for them when I heard about the pig."

"What we need to do is put the hyena back in the hyena," Buffy said.

"But, until we know more —" Giles began.

"Betcha that zookeeper can help us," Dawn said. "Maybe he didn't quarantine those hyenas 'cause they were sick."

Giles seemed to catch on. "We should talk to him."

Buffy started for the door, then stopped again. "Oh, wait," she said. "Somebody's gotta watch Paige."

Dawn stood. "I will."

"Are you sure?" Buffy asked. "If she wakes up —"

"I'll help," Willow said as she moved next to Dawn. "We'll be alright. Go." She held her hand out, and Buffy put the cage keys in it.

"Come on," Buffy said to Giles and Xander.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Dawn, Willow."

It was Paige's voice, from the cage. Willow paused the hyena video she and Dawn were watching.

They turned to face Paige. "How are you feeling?" Dawn asked.

Paige tossed them a wry grin. "Like somebody hit me with a desk." She looked around the cage, registering where she was for the first time. "What am I doing here?"

"You're . . . resting," Willow said as she and Dawn walked toward the cage.

Paige rose, hooking the cage screen with her fingers. "You guys got me locked up now?"

"Paige," Dawn said. "You're possessed, by a demon. It's also why your powers are bound. They will be unbound once your better."

"Dawn, Willow," Paige sighed, "I know there's something wrong with me. I think it's getting worse. I can't just stand around waiting for Buffy to decide it's time to punch me out again. I want you two to help me."

"We are helping you," Dawn said.

"You two are doing what you're told."

"Buffy's trying to help you too, you know that," Willow countered. "Or, Paige does."

"Yeah, Buffy's so selfless, always thinking everyone else. Well, if I'm so dangerous, how come she left you two with me?" Paige's voice was low and warm — almost as if the cage between them was fading away, and they were the only three people in the world.

"Willow told her to," Dawn said.

"Why?" Paige asked.

"Because we know you," Willow answered. "And we wanted to be here to see if you were still you."

"You know I am. Look at me." They did, and they saw Paige. "Look," she said again.

Willow and Dawn moved closer to the cage, wanting to touch comfort their friend. Which was when Paige lunged, shoving her arm through an opening in the cage's doorway. Reaching for the keys dangling from Willow's skirt pocket.

Dawn and Willow jerked back, avoiding Paige's grasp.

"Now we know," Dawn said, with resignation.

Paige lost all pretense of friendship. She pounded at the cage with her fists. "Let me out!" she screamed, fury in her voice. "Let me out!"


	16. Chapter 16: The Pack Part 3

**Chapter 16: The Pack Part 3**

The zookeeper's office was bigger than Buffy expected. There were diplomas and certificates of honor on the wall, as well as photographs, African masks and weapons, and other memorabilia. In the center of the room he had a light table. Transparencies were laid on top of it, and the light from below shone up through them, making them easier to see.

"...the students and your assistant have been possessed by the hyenas," the zookeeper was saying. His manner was somehow reassuring, his voice level and calm.

"Yes," Giles said.

"Are you sure?"

"We're really, really sure," Buffy replied.

"You don't seem enormously surprised by this," Xander suggested.

"The zoo imported those hyenas from Africa," the zookeeper said. "There was something strange about them from day one. I did some homework. That particular breed is very rare. Totally vicious. Historically, they were worshipped by these guys —"

"The Primals," Giles offered.

"Yeah. Creepy guys. Now they had rituals for taking the hyenas' spirits, but I don't see how that could have happened to your kids."

"We don't know exactly how the ritual works," Giles said. "We know it involves a predatory act and some kind of symbol."

"A predatory act. Of course. That makes sense. Where did you read that?"

Giles seemed to sense a kindred spirit. "Do you have Sherman Jeffries's work on cults and —"

"Guys!" Xander interrupted.

"Sorry," Giles said.

The zookeeper glanced at his watch. "Look, I think we may have enough information so that together we can pull off a reverse transpossession."

"What do we do?" Buffy asked.

"You gotta get those possessed students and Ms. Matthews to the hyena cage right away," he said. "I'll meet you there and we can begin the ritual."

"Well, we can guarantee you Paige," Buffy said. "But the students we don't know where they are."

"I wouldn't worry about that," the zookeeper explained. "After hyenas feed and rest, they will track the missing member of their pack until they find him or her. They should come right to you."

Buffy caught Giles and Xander's glances. "Willow and Dawn," she breathed and then inexplicably she orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige paced in the cage like a caged animal. Dawn and Willow were keeping their distance, watching the hyena video. Paige had made her move, and they had dodged her, and now the keys to the cage were across the room. "Willow ..." she said, "Dawn."

Dawn and Willow glanced over their shoulder at Paige. "I'm not listening." Turned back to the screen. She didn't even want to look at him. Well, that's okay with me. I don't want to look at her either. Just want that key.

"Wil-lowww ..." another voice said, "Daa-wwn."

"Paige, shut up," Willow said.

"Wil-lowww ..." the voice called again, "Daa-wwn."

Dawn and Willow realized that it wasn't Xander that was calling them.

Suddenly the pack came crashing through the library windows. Glass rained onto the floor.

Dawn and Willow leapt from their seats and ran out the door.

"Buffy!" Dawn yelled hoping the Whitelighter portion of her sister would hear her call. She and Willow turned a corner, ran to the first classroom door they saw.

Willow grabbed the knob, locked.

They could hear the sounds from the library, knew the cage had been breached. Knew the pack was on their way.

They crossed the hall to another door. This one opened. They darted inside, shutting the door quietly behind them.

Inside the darkened room, Dawn and Willow threaded their way between the desks, crawled into the footwell of the teacher's desk, and pulled the chair into position in front of them.

They remained crouched under the desk as they heard the door open and soft footfalls, telling them someone was in the room. Then footsteps receding, and the door closing.

Dawn grabbed Willow's hand as Willow moved to move the chair back and she shook her head.

Willow looked at Dawn curiously. Dawn held up two fingers and indicated walking. Then she held up one finger and indicated more walking. Willow nodded in understanding, it was a trap. Two people had entered, one person had left.

"Buffy," Dawn whispered, "please."

Just then Buffy orbed in and smiled at Paige. "Hello, Paige."

Paige gave a little roar and lunged at Buffy, who orbed out and back in behind the teacher's desk. "Dawn, Willow, get to the zoo. Giles and Xander are waiting. We'll be right behind you."

Dawn and Willow got out from under the desk and ran to the window, which opened of its own accord.

"Did you do that?" Willow asked looking at Dawn.

"I … I guess I did," Dawn replied as they climbed out the window. "I just thought about how I wanted to open the window and as I stared at it, it opened. I will have to see if I have the power of telekinesis, later."

Buffy smiled at Paige. "Paige, you know what you want. See if you can catch me." She ran for the door out into the corridor surprising the rest of the pack. Behind her as she ran down the corridor and out the doors of the school, she heard their awful hyena laughter. And the unmistakable sounds of them giving chase.

They were coming.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

When Dawn and Willow reached the zoo they found Xander and Giles waiting outside the hyena enclosure.

"Where's the zookeeper?" Dawn asked, winded.

"He's inside," Giles said. "Are they on their way?"

"Yes," Willow replied.

"I'll go in and prepare things. You three just warn us when you hear Buffy and the others approaching," Giles said as he headed down the pathway, and was swallowed by the dark.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Surrounding the zoo grounds, there was a wide swath of thick vegetation. Buffy ran through it, shoving aside huge hanging leaves, dodging tree trunks. She was making good time. The pack was making better time, judging by the leaves and underbrush crashing behind her.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Giles walked down the pathway. It was quiet inside, and dark, and a bit rank. There was more tape across the entryway. He wasn't sure exactly what he'd been expecting, but he knew one thing. This wasn't it.

"Doctor . . .?" he tried. "Zookeeper — ?"

A scuffling sound caught his attention and he turned. The zookeeper had come in behind him, from another entrance, possibly.

Only he wasn't dressed like any zookeeper Giles had ever seen.

"Oh, of course," he said. "You're in the Masai ceremonial garb. Are you otherwise prepared for the transpossession?"

The zookeeper stepped into the glow from lights inside the hyena enclosure. His face was painted blue and white, in a bizarre pattern that Giles half-recognized from the texts he'd pored over in the last few hours. A robe, of a fabric that exactly matched the blue of his face, covered his body, and beneath that he wore some kind of tights. At one ankle and one wrist he wore bone bracelets. He carried a big stick, a staff or club of some kind, which he tossed from hand to hand.

The whole ensemble was more than a little disquieting.

"Almost," the man said.

Giles noticed the strange red markings on the floor. "Right," he said. "The sacred circle. You'd need that to . . ." He was suddenly confused. "Well, this would be here when the children first came. Why would you . . ."

It dawned on him, all at once. He gave a small laugh, and turned to face the fright-masked zookeeper. "How terribly frustrating for you," Giles said, "that a bunch of schoolchildren could accomplish what you could not."

The zookeeper held his gaze. "It bothered me," he said, matter of factly. "But the power will be mine."

Giles knew, finally, that the man was beyond hope of reasoning. He needed to get away, to warn Willow and Buffy before it was too late. He started to bolt.

But the zookeeper was faster. He stepped in, swinging the club one-handed into Giles's stomach. Giles doubled over, and the blue man whipped the club around, brought it down on the back of Giles's head.

Giles went down, unconscious on the floor amid the strange symbols painted there.

The zookeeper didn't waste any time. He grabbed the Giles' ankles and dragged him out of sight.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

They were closer than ever. Buffy could hear them breathing, behind her. Not even panting with the exertion, which, she had to admit, was getting to be a bit of a strain on her.

What was worse, was, they were laughing.

That hysterical half-insane, high-pitched hyena laughter.

Ever closer.

She ran harder.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Dawn, Xander and Willow heard the crashing as they came nearer. It had to be Buffy — not like anyone else would be doing the jogging-for-health thing in the middle of the night in a closed zoo.

"Go, Willow," Dawn said. "We'll wait until their inside and then come in behind them, trapping them there."

Willow nodded and she ran down the walk to the hyena house. "They're almost here!" she called. "Giles ... ?" No answer. "Giles?"

No Giles, either. The only one there was the zookeeper, and he looked weird, all in blue with his face painted. "Where are the hyenas for the transpossession?" she asked him.

He cocked a thumb over his shoulder, gesturing to the cage. "They're right here, in the feeding area. Stay clear," he warned. "They haven't been fed."

"Where's Giles?"

"He's lying in wait."

"They're almost here," Willow said, fighting hard to keep the panic from her voice. "Shouldn't you bring the hyenas out?"

The zookeeper picked up a long strip of leather. "When the time is right," he said. He grabbed Willow's wrists, started wrapping the leather around them. "I'm gonna need your help."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy wasn't quite to the hyena house, and if even Paige or one of the possessed kids had the presence of mind to make a leap, they could probably catch her. She'd wrestled Paige. She knew how strong they were. If they brought her down, as a pack, they'd take her.

She was close, though. Maybe Giles, Xander, Dawn and Willow could do something. "They're right behind me!" she called as she ran up the walkway toward the enclosure.

As Paige and the others passed the spot they had hid, Dawn and Xander came out and followed them from a distance, heading too for the enclosure.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"That's Buffy! Get ready!" Willow said.

The zookeeper had tied her wrists tightly together with his strap. Now he pulled something from beneath the flowing blue robe he wore — a long knife with a very shiny blade.

"Here," he said, like he was giving her a present.

"What is this?"

"The predatory act, remember?" he replied. He moved behind her, holding her in one arm and bringing the knife to her throat.

"Oh, right," Willow said. Talking was hard with the blade pressed against her skin. "You'll pretend to slash my throat and put the evil in the hyenas?"

He looked her in the eyes, but there was nothing reassuring in his voice. "Something like that."

It was clear now that he wasn't kidding. Nor was he on their side.

Buffy burst into the hyena house. There was a strange-looking, blue-garbed man holding a knife to Willow's neck. And Willow's hands were tied. There was no sign of Giles, Dawn or Xander. Just to make things more complicated, Willow shouted, "Buffy! It's a trap!"

Buffy stopped in her tracks.

Which, come to think of it, might not have been the best idea, since the pack was still running full speed behind her.

Paige plowed into Buffy, throwing one arm around her midriff and driving her to the ground. Then the others were on her, hands tearing at her, teeth gnashing hungrily.

Dawn and Xander came running in and Dawn looked at the pile. "It's a trap," Willow told them."

"Nyumba Ya Sanaa!" the zookeeper called. Everybody looked at him. Except Buffy, who, because the pack wasn't looking at her, looked at them.

Their eyes, after all, were glowing green. It was the kind of thing that caught your attention.

All of them — Kyle, Heidi, Tor, Rhonda — eyes flashing like traffic lights saying go. She risked a glance at the zookeeper, and his eyes flashed the same weird glow, as if in response to them.

And she suddenly understood what it meant. This whole thing had been a setup. Somehow the hyena spirit had accidentally gone into Xander and the rest, when this guy actually wanted it for himself. So he'd arranged for everyone to be brought back here when he was ready.

Now the hyena was out of the kids, and concentrated in one man. Who wanted it there.

He was going to be trouble.

As if forgetting how to use tools, the zookeeper dropped his knife, grabbing Willow's head between his hands. He roared like a wild beast. He leaned toward her, baring his teeth like he meant to rip into her flesh.

"Willow!" It was Paige. Sounding like herself. She looked down at her charge. "I can't orb."

Buffy nodded in understanding and orbed out and back in grabbing Willow and then orbed out again. She orbed back in next to Dawn and Xander. She then spun toward the zookeeper, she ran at him and launched a kick at the zookeeper's painted jaw. She connected, hard, and he fell back. In a second he was up again, and charging her. She stopped him for a moment with a left, and when he attacked again, she grabbed his robes and used his own momentum to throw him over her shoulder and down onto the hard stone floor.

He was powerful, though. Most men would have been out cold, but he jumped up and came back for more with an animal-like growl.

"Dawn," Buffy yelled. "Your turn."

Dawn nodded in understand and she squinted at the zookeeper and he went flying away from Buffy up and over into the hyena pit.

He screamed.

He reappeared again a moment later, trying to haul himself out by the bars of the cage. But there was a ferocious growling behind him. He screamed again, in pain this time more than fear, and was dragged down from the bars.

He was out of sight, but the growling continued. And even worse, crunching, gnawing, gnashing of teeth.

Buffy caught a glimpse of Kyle and his friends as they ran out of the hyena house, horrified. She didn't blame them.

Dawn moved beside her sister and looked inside the pit, instantly she was sorry she had. "Sorry," she said softly. She looked at Buffy. "I just meant to throw him back away from you. New power, its going to take time to control."

"I know," Buffy whispered as she turned and saw Xander untying Willow's hands.

A door opened, and Giles staggered into the room. He put a hand to his glasses, trying to gain his balance. "Uh," he said. "Did I miss anything?"

"Can someone fill me in on what happened?" Paige wondered.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The next day was one of those bright, sunny days when it really becomes clear that summer is just around the corner. Buffy, Paige, Dawn, Willow, and Xander walked across the quad. Buffy was enjoying the sunshine, and enjoying being with Paige.

"I heard the vice principal is taking over until they can find a replacement," Willow said.

"It shouldn't be hard to find a new principal," Buffy said. "Unless they ask what happened to the last one."

"Okay, but I had nothing to do with that, right?" Paige asked for the millionth time.

"Right," Dawn agreed.

They started up an outside staircase. "You only ate the pig," Xander added.

"I ate a pig?" Paige asked. "It was cooked, right?" She put her hand to her forehead, in obvious dismay.

"Well, it wasn't really you," Buffy assured Paige.

"Well, I remember going on the field trip, and then orbing into the hyena house," Paige said. "Next thing some guy's holding Willow and he's got a knife. I didn't do anything else, did I? Around you guys? Anything embarrassing?"

"Naah," Buffy assured Paige.

"Not at all," Dawn added.

Buffy looked to her sister and her friends. "Come on," she said. "We're gonna be late." She looked to Paige. "See you at lunch."

Paige smiled as she watched them walk away. She was pretty sure they had bought it.

Good.

It felt great to be herself again. Right now at this moment Buffy, Dawn, Willow and Xander did not need to know that there had been no memory loss. That she remembered everything. They would find that out the first time they themselves were ever possessed or nearly transformed into a demon. She turned and walked a few steps — straight toward Giles, who was coming right for her, looking crisp in a fresh suit and tie.

"I've been reading up on my animal possession," Giles said, "and I cannot find anything anywhere about memory loss afterward."

"There isn't any. My sister's and I have either been nearly transformed into demons or possessed by them at one time or another, there is no memory loss. That said you didn't tell them that?" Paige asked as she motioned toward her charges, Willow and Xander.

Giles leaned close to Paige's ear. "Your secret dies with me," he said.

"Good," Paige said. "Eventually they will find themselves either possessed or nearly transformed and realized why I lied. Some things are best left forgotten."

"Paige," Giles said, "I've been wondering. While you were possessed you kind of zeroed in Buffy and we know you have been interested in her and she you, romantically."

"You're wondering how it all started," Paige said as Giles nodded. "It started when I found out I was Buffy and Dawn's Whitelighter. My sister, Phoebe, as you know has the power of premonition like Buffy. She has supposedly received multiple premonitions showing me giving things to Buffy. The Carolingian cross Buffy now wears, the jacket I gave her and the dinner last week. I'm not a hundred percent sure if she is forcing her premonitions and is using them to meddle in my life or she is receiving them from an outside source."

"What source would likely give them to her?" Giles said.

"Probably the Elders or maybe the Angels of Destiny," Paige replied. "I don't know."

"Can you ask?" Giles wondered. "It might put to rest the questions everyone has."

Paige nodded. "I'll try," she said as she looked around. She noticed they were alone as she orbed out.

She orbed onto one of the support columns of the Golden Gate Bridge. "I need to talk to one of you," she said as she looked toward the heavens.

A second later a Whitelighter she recognized as Kyle Brody orbed in, in front of her. "Hello, Paige," he said.

"Kyle," Paige said surprised to see him here. "I thought one of the Elders …"

"They know," Kyle said. "And they know why you're here. It's about Buffy and yourself. The Elders have been giving Phoebe her visions. A seer saw into the future of yours and Buffy's lives. She told her Whitelighter and he told the Elders what she had seen. In Buffy's life she sacrifices herself over and over again and in the end she winds up alone, no love in her life. In this life hers and Dawn's powers would have remained bound; they would have been oblivious to their magical destinies."

"As I said the seer also saw your life. You would have gotten married within the next year and a half. While you would have loved him, like we loved each other. It would not have been true love; it would have been a case of settling. So the Elders went to the Angels of Destiny, pleaded with them to know what would happen if the two of you were to get together. The Angels told them that while they cannot interfere in freewill, they had foreseen such an outcome and that the two of you are soulmates. For all you have accomplished so far, Paige, and for what Buffy will accomplish in the years to come. You two are each other's reward; the Elders gave you to Buffy as her Whitelighter in the hopes that the two of you would find love with each other."


	17. Chapter 17: I Robot, You Jane Part 1

**Chapter 17: I Robot, You Jane Part 1**

"Oh," Buffy said. "Great. A book."

Willow and Dawn each looked over from their position in front of one of the scanners and smiled when they saw the disappointed expression on Buffy's face. Buffy pulled an oversized, ancient-looking book from the crate she'd just pried open and idly traced the carving on its leather cover.

"I haven't gone through the new arrivals," Rupert Giles told Buffy. He gestured toward where Willow and Dawn stood. "Put it in that pile –"

"Here, I got it." Dave, a shy, bookish kid with thick blond hair, took the book from Buffy and headed back towards his terminal. Next to him, a boy named Fritz worked diligently. Fritz was big and sturdily-built with short hair, the opposite of Dave.

"Thanks, Dave." Buffy grinned. "The Willow and Dawn pile."

"After I've examined it," Giles said absently, "one of you can, uh... skim it in."

"Scan it, Giles. Scan it."

The door to the library closed behind Paige as she strode in

"Of course," Giles said.

"I know our ways are strange to you," Paige said with amusement, "but soon you will join us in the 20th century... with three whole years to spare!"

"Paige," Giles said archly, "I happen to believe that one can function in modern society without being a slave to the idiot box."

Paige chuckled. "That's TV—the idiot box is the TV. This is the good box."

"Well," Giles said, undaunted. "I still prefer a good book."

"The printed page is obsolete," Fritz put in. "Information isn't bound up anymore, it's an entity. The only reality is virtual. If you're not jacked in, you're not alive." With that, he nodded to himself and flicked the off switch on his computer. A moment later the door to the library closed behind him.

They all stared after him, then Paige sighed as she muttered to herself. "And here I thought I had left stuff like that behind when Leo took over Magic School." She looked to Giles. "Not everyone is like him," she said. "I don't see the printed word disappearing for a while still yet." She looked to her charges, their friends and Dave. "All right, guys, let's wrap it up for the day."

Willow glanced at the stack of waiting books, then back at her terminal. She hated to leave stuff undone—it always came back to haunt you the next morning. "I've just got a few more to do," she told Paige. "I'll hang around for a bit."

"No problem, Willow," Paige said. "Need a lift home?"

"No, but thanks for the offer," Willow replied.

"I have to stay and clean up," Giles said stiffly. "I'll be back in the Middle Ages."

Willow looked over at Giles and nodded. "Okay. I'll let you know when I'm done."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The hours flew past, as they always did when Willow worked on computer projects. Despite her intention to stay only a little while, it was already late night, but at least the book in front of her, the leather-covered one that Buffy had uncrated just before everyone left, was the last one.

Willow opened it to the first page, grateful to find that even though it was weighty, the pages were thick and not numerous. After naming the file Willow/Book12, she carefully drew the scanner down the first page, keeping her eyes on the screen to make sure the image didn't blur or distort. While she couldn't understand the strange characters and foreign words, the information seemed to be transferring cleanly and rapidly.

Turned slightly to the right and with her gaze focused on the screen, Willow never noticed the pages of the book as she completed and turned each one, never saw the way the ancient words and symbols appeared to slip off the heavy parchment as the scanner passed over them. When the last of the book's content entered the screen, Willow saved the file without looking back at the book, then glanced around the library one last time. "Giles, I'm done," she yelled.

"Alright," came his reply from somewhere in the stacks.

On the computer, the screen suddenly went blank. After a beat, three words appeared, one letter at a time, across the center:

Where am I?

Willow hit the off button automatically. Finished at last, she gathered up her books and headed out of the library.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The street was deserted of people as Buffy headed for home. Paige hard offered to orb both her and Dawn home, but she had turned down Paige's offer, while Dawn had taken it up. She had noticed since Paige had been unpossessed the something was on her Whitelighter's mind. Which made her want to walk home alone and think about what may have been so important.

In the distance an ambulance siren wailed; car horns sounded. Yet, beneath the traffic din, she heard a noise. She slowed and looked back. There was nothing there, but often there seemed to be nothing there while some demon stalked her.

She walked on.

As she half-expected, she heard another sound. She took a few more steps, then stopped. This time she didn't turn around as she said, with resignation and determination in her voice, "It's late. I'm tired and I don't want to play games. Show yourself."

Something dropped to the ground behind her, savagely growling as she whipped a stake out of her jacket and whirled around. As she raised the stake high to strike, a hand grabbed her wrist from behind.

A hand with talons for fingernails. It was joined by the hand of another, which yanked her arm. The first twisted her wrist until the stake clattered to the cement.

There were three of them, dressed in weird armor, uncommonly strong, even for vampires.

Buffy said, "Oh, okay nice. Hey, ow, okay. I'm letting go. I don't want to fight all three of you."

Without warning, she kicked the vampire in front of her—he wore a braided ponytail and a wicked-ugly set of fangs—right where it counted. "Unless I have to," she said, and they were off. As the ponytail guy doubled over, another one, who had a scar that had sealed his eye shut, slammed her in the back.

They flung her against a chain link fence. Then two pulled her between them as One-Eye moved in for the kill. He bared his fangs and lowered his face toward her neck. She smelled death on him.

Her death.

Suddenly a familiar voice rang out as someone yanked One-Eye's head back.

Paige.

She said, "Good dogs don't bite."

Buffy threw herself backward, kicking her legs up and catching her two captors in the head. One went down. Ponytail grabbed her and threw her against the fence as Paige dodged One-Eye.

Paige went for the one who had fallen as One-Eye ripped a pointed spike off the wrought iron fence and lunged at her.

"Look out!" Buffy shouted as he slashed Paige across the ribs. She fought Ponytail, smashing his head back with her open hands, and then slamming both her fists, doubled together like a wrecking ball, into his face.

Paige was down; Buffy paused to kick One-Eye in the face, then urged Paige to her feet, screaming,

"Run!"

They flew. Down one block, through an empty lot, and across another block as they moved into a residential area. Paige matched her step for step. As one, they turned onto Revello Drive. Buffy spared a glance at Paige; she was holding her side. Buffy frowned, worried, but pumped harder as the snarling vampires gained on them. Dashing ahead of Paige she opened the front door.

Buffy herded Paige inside, yelling, "Get in! Come on!"

Just as she shut the door, One-Eye leaped onto the porch, grabbing for her. She smashed his hand with the door. He pulled it free and she slammed the door shut. She locked it as she looked through the panes, fighting to catch her breath.

Behind her, Paige said, "It's all right. A vampire can't come in unless it's invited."

"I've heard that before, but I've never put it to the test."

The three vampires paced the porch, growling.

Buffy stared at the sight of Paige standing in her house, hurt, but alive and staring back at her. She said, "I'll get some bandages. Take your jacket and your shirt off."

Paige followed her into the kitchen, shedding her jacket and pulling off her white blouse, leaving her clad only in her bra from the waist up.

Buffy reached to get the first aid kit out of the cupboard. Then as she turned and saw that Paige had her back to her and was clad only in a bra from the waist up, her heart began to pound. She paused, hypnotized by the sleek taper of the muscles in her back and her arms, the smooth skin on the nape of her neck.

A large tattoo of a triquetra rippled on Paige's right shoulder as she moved slightly, and Buffy stirred from her daze and said, "Nice tattoo."

"It's from the Book back home," Paige reminded her. "Piper, Phoebe and I all have one, in different places of course."

Buffy nodded as she began to bandage Paige's wound. The wound wasn't deep thank goodness.

They were standing very close together. Buffy was aware that Paige's face—her lips—were inches from hers.

To distract herself, Buffy said, "I was lucky you orbed in."

"I sensed that you were in trouble," Paige said.

Buffy smiled. "I'm glad you did. Paige, you know how I said I didn't want you to orb me home. I noticed how things have changed between us. You've been a little distant lately. And I wanted time to try and figure out why."

Paige let out a sigh. She knew she would have to tell Buffy. "The Elders are the ones that have been messing with our lives. You are my reward for everything I've done the last couple years with Piper and Phoebe and I am to be yours for everything you will do in the future."

"Reward?" Buffy asked confused.

"They steered us together in the hopes we would fall in love with each other. The premonitions Phoebe has been receiving were from them in a further attempt to steer us in that direction. Buffy, I'm not saying I don't love you, I do. But you are sixteen and won't even be legal for two more years. We both need to figure this out, to make sure that we do indeed have feelings for each other or if its simply just a crush."

Buffy finished the bandage and straightened up as she looked at Paige and then she moved closer to the older woman and smiled as she caught the scent of Paige's body, the smell of Paige's perfume. She leaned and planted a kiss on Paige's lips. "Paige, I've known since I met you, there is no one else. Not right now anyways, maybe your right this is just a crush and in two years I will have found someone else. Till then, you are the only person I love in that way."

Paige smiled and as she was about to kiss Buffy they heard the front door open. "Your mom and Dawn," she whispered. She had orbed Dawn to Joyce when she had gotten Buffy's unconscious call.

Buffy raced to the door. Both Joyce and Dawn were still standing on the porch, Joyce was putting her keys back in her purse and reaching to open the mailbox. Buffy jerked both of them inside and scanned for the enemy.

"Honey, what are you doing?" Joyce asked.

After glancing out at the yard, Buffy quickly closed and locked the door. "Vampires followed me and Paige home," she responded.

"You and Paige are alright then?" Joyce asked as Paige joined them, she wore her blouse and jacket.

"We're fine," Paige said. "Buffy, you should call Giles let him know about the vampires. I'll orb home and have Leo take a look at my wound."

Buffy nodded as Paige orbed out.

"You sure you're okay?" Dawn wondered.

"I'm fine, Dawnie," Buffy answered.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The next day at the Sunnydale High School library—Buffy and Paige told Xander, Dawn, Willow, and Giles what had happened the night before.

"You left the Bronze and were set upon by three unusually virile vampires . . ." Giles said as he laid down the book and pointed to an engraving. "Did they look like this?"

They were Buffy's three vampire amigos.

Buffy nodded. "Yeah. What's with the uniforms?"

Giles looked grim but satisfied. "It seems you encountered the Three—warrior vampires, very proud and strong."

Willow blinked, impressed. "How is it you always know this stuff? You always know what's going on. I never know what's going on."

Giles waved a hand at the piles of dusty books as he sipped from a coffee cup. "Well, you weren't here from midnight to six researching it." Buffy's call had reached him just as he was ready to turn in.

Sheepishly Willow agreed. "No, I was sleeping."

Giles turned to Buffy. "Obviously, you're hurting the Master. He wouldn't send the Three for just anyone." He thought a moment, cleaning his glasses. "We must step up our training with weapons."

Xander added, "Buffy, you'd better stay at my place until these samurai guys are history."

Buffy wasn't quite sure she'd heard him right. "What?"

Giles shook his head. "Neither Buffy nor Paige are in any immediate jeopardy." He put his glasses back on. "Eventually the Master will send someone else, but in the meantime, the Three, having failed, will offer up their own lives as penance."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

After the report on the three Willow sailed smilingly through the horde of students like it was nothing more than a few people in an uncrowded Weatherly Park.

"Willow –Willow! Hey, wait up!" Buffy said as she caught up with her friend.

Hugging her books, Willow grinned. "Buffy! I didn't even see you."

Buffy squinted at her. "Or hear me, I've been walking just behind you since we left the library. What was up last night?" she asked as they started walking again. "I tried your line like a million times."

"Oh, I was ..." Willow hesitated. "I was talking," she finally finished.

"You we're talking and you told Giles you we're asleep." Buffy said.

Willow nodded sheepishly.

Buffy made a gesture with her hand for Willow to continue. "Talking to ...?"

Instead of answering, Willow only smiled.

"Okay, that's it," Buffy said. She tagged after Willow clearly interested. "You have a secret and that is not allowed."

"Why not?"

"'Cause ... there's a rule." Buffy said taking on a petulant why-aren't-you-sharing-with-me? tone, and Willow just had to take pity.

"Well," she amended, "I sort of met someone."

"This is so important, your first boyfriend," Buffy said with a tone of excitement. "When did you meet?"

"Last night." Willow told her. "I was in a chat room and we just seemed to hit it off."

Buffy's smile grew wider and she switched directions so she could look at Willow full in the face while they walked, like a skater doing a backward stroll. Her questions tumbled out. "Does he go here? What's his name? Have you kissed him? What's he like?"

Willow's mouth turned up with amusement. "No, Malcolm, no, and very nice," she said answering everything in one shot.

Buffy flounced forward, but her excitement was still obvious. "You are a thing of evil for not telling us this right away!"

"Well," Willow admitted. "I wasn't sure there was anything to tell. But last night …" She hugged her books tighter. "Oh, we talked all night. It was amazing. He's so smart, Buffy, and he's romantic and we agree about everything."

"What's he look like?"

"I don't know." Willow answered cheerfully.

Buffy's mouth worked, but she seemed at a loss for words as she followed Willow from the hallway into the computer lab.

"You've been talking to a guy and you don't know what he looks like. He didn't give you a picture?"

"No," Willow replied.

"Morning, kids." Willow and Buffy looked up as the computer teacher came into the lab. "Buffy, are you supposed to be somewhere?"

"I have a free period." she replied.

"Cool. But this is lab time so let's make it a nice short visit, okay?"

Buffy nodded. "Oh sure."

Willow quickly ran through her log-on procedure as Buffy sat next to her. The instant it made the connection, the computer flashed a message:

You have mail!

"It's him!" Willow said excitedly as she opened the message.

I'm thinking about you.

"He's so sweet." Willow said, charmed.

Beside her, Buffy seemed less than impressed. "Uh, yeah, he's a sweetie."

"What should I write back?" Willow asked. Her fingers were posed over the keyboard as she tried to think.

Buffy cleared her throat pointedly. "Willow, I think it's great that you've got a cool pen pal, but ... don't you think you're kind of rushing into all this. You know what I mean?"

"I'm thinking of you too," Willow blurted, talking as she typed. She almost hit the Enter key, then gasped. "No–that's incredibly stupid."

"Will," Buffy interrupted, "down girl. Let's focus here, okay. What do you really know about this guy?"

Willow sat back sullenly. "See, I knew you'd react like this."

"Like what?" Buffy demanded. "I just want to make sure you're careful."

"Buffy –"

"He could be different than you think."

"His name is Malcolm Black," Willow said with exaggerated care. "He's eighteen, he lives in Elmwood which is like eighty miles from here. And he likes me."

"Short, tall, skinny, fat..." Buffy looked at her expectantly.

"Why does everything have to be about looks?" Willow demanded, frustrated.

"Not everything," Buffy acknowledged. "But some stuff is. I mean, what if you guys get really, really intense and then you find out he... has a hairy back?"

Willow's eyes widened as she considered this, then her jaw set. "Well, no. He doesn't talk like the kind of person who has a hairy back. And anyway, that stuff doesn't matter if you really care about each other." She looked down at her hands. "Maybe I'm not his ideal either," she said softly.

"Hey," Buffy said. She put an understanding hand on Willow's arm. "I just want to make sure he's good enough for you, that's all. I think it's great that you met someone."

"Hey." Both Willow and Buffy jumped as Fritz appeared on the other side of the cubicle divider without warning. "Are you done?"

Buffy stared at him, her hazel eyes widening. "What?"

"I'm trying to work."

"Okay," Buffy said a little testily. "Sorry."

Buffy glanced at Willow, then over to where the computer teacher sat at her own terminal, thankfully not noticing their exchange. "Boy, Fritz is even more charming than usual."

Willow frowned a little. "I don't know what his problem is lately."

Buffy stood. They both knew it was time for her to make tracks. "He needs to get out more," she said. "Or ever." She looked at the computer, then at Willow, as though she wanted to say something more. Instead, Willow felt Buffy touch her on the arm again, then her friend strode away.


	18. Chapter 18: I Robot, You Jane Part 2

**Chapter 18: I Robot, You Jane Part 2**

Good looking guy—probably a senior, with light brown hair and eyes. He sat on the stone stairs leading down and into the courtyard, staring in disbelief at the screen on his laptop.

"This isn't my report," he said as Willow passed. He wasn't really talking to her, so she paid him no mind, never registering his next, amazed words. "'Nazi Germany was a model of well-ordered society?' I didn't write that!" He looked around, as though he could pinpoint the guilty party. "Who's been in my files?"

Xander buzzed up behind her and slipped his hands over her eyes.

"Guess who?"

"Xander," she said without hesitation.

"Well, yeah. But keep guessing anyway."

"Uh … Xander," Willow said again.

He lowered his hands and skipped around to walk next to her. "I can't fool you. You see right through my petty char-ahde." He looked at her expectantly. "We going to the Bronze tonight?"

Willow shook her head, hoping he would be offended. "Not me. I think I'm gonna call it an early night."

Xander arched an eyebrow. "Oh … Malcolm, right? Yeah, I heard. But you're going to be missing out." He did a little jig as he walked, putting on his best comedic face. "I'm planning to be witty. I'm gonna make fun of all the people who won't talk to me."

"That's nice," Willow said absently. "Have a good time." Lost in her own thoughts and with a smile on her face, she ambled away.

"She certainly looks perky," Buffy said. Xander jumped and Dawn and Buffy grinned at their success in sneaking up behind him.

Recovering, Xander glanced at Willow's retreating figure. "Yeah, color in the cheeks, a bound in the step—I don't like it. It's not healthy." He sent a final, longing stare in Willow's direction, then turned back to Dawn and Buffy. "So what about you two? Bronze? No—you, Buffy, probably have to slay vampires or some lame endeavor like that. What about you, Dawn?"

"Paige has me practicing my power. Don't want a repeat of what happened at the zoo," Dawn replied.

Xander's face was full of exaggerated self-pity. "Everybody deserts me."

Neither Dawn nor Buffy could help but laugh. "Check out the jealous man," Buffy said.

Xander frowned. "What're you talking about?"

"You're jealous!" Dawn said in agreement of her sister.

"Of what?"

"You're the jealous brother," Dawn said. "You want what's best for Will. And while you don't see Willow in that way, you used to being the belle of the ball."

"No, it's just …" He hesitated. "This Malcolm guy—what's his deal? Tell me you two are not slightly wigged."

"Slightly," they agreed.

"It's just the not knowing what he's really like," Dawn said,

"Or who he really is," Buffy added.

"I agree with that," Xander said quickly. "I could say I was an elderly Dutch woman, get me? Who's to say I'm not? If I'm in the elderly Dutch chat room—"

"I get your point." Buffy frowned as things suddenly clicked into place. "I get your point. This guy could be anybody. He could be weird, or crazy, or old or … he could be a circus freak—he's probably a circus freak!"

Xander's eyes were serious. "I mean, we read about that all the time. People meet on the net, they talk, they get together, have dinner, a show, horrible ax murder …"

Buffy's eyes widened as she contemplated this. "Willow, ax-murdered by a circus freak! Okay, okay—what do we do?"

"What are you two doing?" Dawn asked. "Let's not jump to conclusions here till we have more facts."

Xander gave them his crooked, one-of-a-kind grin. "Yeah," he said. "But isn't it fun?"

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Oh boy, Willow thought the next day, more than a little panicked. She barreled up to her locker in the gym room, nearly colliding with Dawn and Buffy as she shrugged into her gym clothes.

"Whoa," Buffy said, between Willow's banging her books inside the metal locker. "You're the late girl."

"I overslept," Willow said shortly.

"Till fifth period?" Dawn stared at her, then looked away. "Talking to Malcolm last night?"

"Yeah," When neither Dawn nor Buffy responded, Willow glanced at the sisters. "What."

"Nothing," Dawn and Buffy said simultaneously.

Willow searched frantically through her locker for the book she hoped to read while waiting her turn on the gym floor. She hadn't studied last night and she desperately needed to do some catch-up before last period. "You two are having an expression."

"We're not." Buffy hesitated. "But … if we were, it would be saying this just isn't like you."

Willow snatched up a biology book and slammed her locker shut. "Not like me to have a boyfriend?"

Buffy and Dawn glanced at each other and then back at Willow. "He's ... boyfriendly?" Dawn asked.

"I don't understand why you two don't want me to have this." Willow tried to keep the frustration out of her voice, but she wasn't succeeding. "I mean, boys don't chase me around all the time—I thought you'd both be happy for me."

Dawn and Buffy took a step towards her. "We just want you to be sure," Buffy said. "To meet him face to face, in daylight, in a crowded place, with some friends. You know, before you become all obsessive."

Willow scowled. "Malcolm and I really care about each other. Big deal if I blow off a couple classes."

"I thought you said you overslept," Dawn said.

Caught, Willow didn't know what to say. Then she folded her arms protectively around her book. "Malcolm said you wouldn't understand."

"Malcolm was right," the sisters replied.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Willow and Malcom—Dawn and Buffy worried over the thought all through P.E. When the class was finally over, they changed back into their regular clothes and headed over to the computer lab.

Poking her head through the door, Buffy spied Dave typing enthusiastically at one of the consoles. "Hi, Dave." she said when she and Dawn reached him.

There was no response, and the sisters glanced from him to the screen. The words there were moving too fast for them to read and Dave's fingers were a blur on the keyboard.

"Hi there, Dave," Dawn tried this time.

Still no response.

"Anybody home?" Buffy asked amiably and touched him on the shoulder.

He jumped and twisted on his chair. When he saw the sisters, his expression seemed to tense up even more as he folded his hands in his lap, then he relaxed. "Oh. What do you two want?"

"We wanted to ask you something," Dawn said. "If you had a minute."

Dave blinked, as if he were trying to gather his thoughts. "What is it?"

"Well," Buffy said as she and Dawn each snagged a chair from a nearby console and pulled them over, before perching on them. "You're a computer geek—"

Dawn rolled her eyes. "She means you're a computer genius," she said. She knew about computers but just enough to be dangerous. She could scan a document sure, but hacking and stuff like Willow did was out of her league. "We sort of have a technical problem. If we wanted to find out something about someone, if someone E-mailed us, could we trace the letter?"

Dave shrugged and pushed away the thick lock of hair that had fallen into his eyes. "Well," he told them, "you can pull up someone's profile based on their user name."

"But …" Buffy said, "they write the profile themselves, right? So they could say anything they want."

"Sure."

"Wow," she said. "I had knowledge."

Dawn and Dave smiled at Buffy. Dawn turned and looked at Dave. "Well, is there a way to find out exactly where a letter—an E-letter—came from? I mean the actual location of the computer?"

Dave looked thoughtful. "It's a challenge."

Dawn felt obliged to explain. "'Cause you see, Willow's got this friend Malcolm," she said, "and to tell you the truth, I—"

"Leave Willow alone," Dave said. His voice was suddenly cold, his face white.

Dawn and Buffy glanced at each as they sat back. "What do you mean?" Buffy asked.

"That's none of your business." Dave turned his back abruptly.

Dawn and Buffy slowly stood and pushed their chairs they'd borrowed back to their place "Dave," Dawn asked slowly, "are you … Malcolm?"

"Of course not."

Dawn frowned. "Dave, what's going on?"

"Nothing," he said harshly. He brought his fingers to the keyboard, but before he could started typing again Buffy snagged one of his hands in hers.

"Your hands," Buffy said as she stared at his fingers. Every one of them was wrapped in Band-Aids.

"It's nothing," he said and yanked away from her. "I'm typing a lot."

"What's going on?" Dawn demanded again.

"Look," he said. "I'll talk to you two later, okay. I've got work to do."

He turned again to his console and left her standing there, clearly dismissed. She stared at his back for a second, then turned and stalked out of the lab."

"So do we," Buffy muttered to Dawn.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Dawn and Buffy found Paige and Giles in the library and filled them in on what they knew so far. "We're telling you, there's something going on," Buffy finished. "It's not just Willow. Dave, Fritz—they're all wicked jumpy."

Giles didn't seem convinced. "Well, those boys aren't sparklingly normal as it is."

"Giles, trust us," Dawn said.

"We do," Paige said. "What you've told us so far is not telling us anything. What you could do is tail Dave, see if he's up to something. We need more information before we can act."

"Follow Dave?" Buffy said in amazement. "What, dark glasses and a trench coat? Please ..."

"It's not a bad idea," Dawn interrupted. "Think about it Buffy. We need a place to start and following Dave is a good place to start to find the answers."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Dawn managed to talk Buffy into not getting the sunglasses and trench coat. Following Dave wasn't nearly as difficult as they'd thought it would be; Buffy would orb herself and Dawn to the end of a block, hide behind a tree and wait for Dave to pass and the orb the end of another block. They kept up easily doing this and when he parked in a spot at the side of a large, blocky building surrounded by a high fence, they slipped unnoticed into an alcove next to the driveway entrance.

Hanging on the gate was a sign that spelled out CRD in large letters. Beyond the fence a half dozen eerily silent workmen were using dollies and a forklift to haul boxes into the building. When Dave joined them, an expressionless man in a scientist-type coast greet him, then they went inside. The only one left on the dock was an equally blank-faced security guard. Buffy waited awhile, but no one came out and she felt there were too many people around to actually follow Dave into the building.

With little else to go on, she finally headed back to the high school.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Whatever Dave is into," Buffy told Paige, Giles and Xander the next morning when they she and Dawn Dawn arrived in the library, "it's large."

Giles looked at her with interest. "What was the name of the place?"

"Sign said CRD," Dawn said. "We couldn't orb closer to see what it was –"

"Calax Research and Development," Xander cut in. "Computer research lab, third biggest employer in Sunnydale, till it closed last year." When he saw Paige, Dawn, Buffy and Giles gawking at him, he managed to look righteously offended. "What, I can't have information sometimes?"

"It's just somewhat … unprecedented." Giles said, flustered.

"Well, my uncle used to work there," Xander admitted. "In a floor-sweeping capacity."

Buffy looked thoughtful. "But it closed."

Xander nodded. "Uh-huh."

"Looked pretty functional from where we stood." Dawn crossed her arms. "We don't have a clue what they were doing, though."

"If CRD was a computer research lab," Paige said. "They could have needed Dave for something related to computers."

"He is off-the-charts-smart," Buffy agreed.

Giles shoved his hands into his pockets. "We still don't know a terrible lot. Whatever's going on there could be on the up and up."

Xander shook his head. "If CRD re-opened, it would have been on the news."

Buffy lifted her chin. "Besides, I can just tell something's wrong. My spider-sense is tingling."

"Your 'spider-sense'?" Giles asked, puzzled.

"Pop-culture reference." Paige said by way of explanation.

"Sorry," Buffy added.

Giles looked at the others. "Yes, well, I think we're at a standstill. Short of breaking into the place, I don't see—"

"Breaking in," Buffy said brightly. "This, then, is the plan."

"I'm free tonight." Xander and Dawn offered.

Buffy nodded. "Tonight it is."

"Just a moment," Paige said. "Giles did not suggest you break into the place. If you three do it, the two of us can't know."

"Don't forget," Buffy said with a smile. "I have a way of getting in there now, without being seen."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Willow glanced around the computer lab just to make sure she was alone, then smiled as she read the words on the computer screen in front of her.

I've never felt this way about

anyone before, Willow.

Her smile widened. "I know what you mean," she said, echoing the words aloud as she typed the return message to Malcom. "I feel like you know me better than anyone."

I do.

Willow took a deep breath. "Do you think we should ..." She hesitated, then went for it. "… meet?" She hit the Enter button before she could change her mind.

I think we should. Soon.

She swallowed and let her fingers type out the truth. "I'm nervous."

I'm not. Isn't that strange?

"That's what Buffy and Dawn don't understand," Willow told Malcom in her reply. "How comfortable you can make me feel."

Dawn and Buffy just make trouble. That's why they got

kicked out of their old school.

Willow froze, unsettled. "How did you know that?" she typed.

It's on their permanent records.

She sat there, trying to digest this. Buffy and Dawn's permanent records? But how would Malcom know that unless he had access to the files? And why would he want to, anyway?

You must have mentioned it.

Willow stared at the words. Finally she typed the only thing she could think of to say. "I guess."

Let's not worry about them anymore.

She hesitated, and then decided things were just a little too freaky right now to continue. "I have to sign off," she typed decisively. "I'll talk to you later."

Don't.

But her mind was made up. "Bye." She sent it and turned off the screen before Malcom could try to dissuade her, then left the lab with a troubled look on her face.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Giles."

Giles came out of his office to find Paige looking at the books that had been scanned. "Did you go through all of these?" she asked.

"No," Giles said as he walked across the library to Paige. She held up the book she held in her hand. "Why?"

"It's blank," Paige replied.

Giles took the book from Paige and closed it. They saw an elaborate horned image cut into the book's cover.

"That's not what I think it is?" Paige asked as she looked at the book's cover.

"I would say it is," Giles said. "The image of a demon."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"But, I checked the computer!" Dawn heard one of the school nurses tell a teacher as she walked past the two outside the building. "And there's nothing in his file about being allergic to penicillin."

Before Dawn could think further about what she'd heard, someone touched her arm. Turning, she saw Dave waiting to talk to her. "Dawn."

"Dave. How're you doing?"

"Okay." Despite his words, he wouldn't meet her eyes. Instead, he looked over her shoulder, at the sky, at the ground. Anywhere but at her face. "I'm … sorry about yesterday. I haven't been sleeping much."

"Don't sweat it," Dawn said.

He scuffed at the ground with one shoe. "Uh, Willow was looking for you and Buffy."

"Oh, good," Dawn replied, "we need to talk to her. Do you know where she is?"

He shoved his hands deeper into his pockets. "She said she would be in the girl's locker room."

"Great," Dawn said again. "Thanks," she added and headed back toward the locker room. On her way there she saw Buffy and filled her in.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Will?" Buffy and Dawn called out as they moved through the totally empty locker room until they came to the end of the row. No one was around, and certainly not Willow. They were about to leave when they heard one of the showers start up, the sound of the water echoing off the walls.

"Willow?" they called.

"Will, you taking a shower?" Buffy asked as she angled her head around the corner, but the tiled shower area was empty. "Guess not."

Dawn glanced behind them, but there was still no one there. "There is no one here," she said.

Buffy nodded. "This," she muttered as she stepped into the rapidly spreading puddle of water to turn off the faucet, "is how droughts are started."

"Buffy—get out!"

Buffy and Dawn spun in surprise and saw Dave standing at the other end of the locker room. His expression was full of horror and regret, his gaze frozen toward the wall at the opposite corner of the room. When she jerked in that direction, Buffy saw why: a cord dangled from a gutted light fixture high on the wall, the bare-ended wires lying on the floor—

Only a fraction of an inch away from the creeping puddle of water in which she now stood.

Instinct made Buffy orb out just as the water touched the wires. She orbed back in beside her sister who was staring at her shocked.


	19. Chapter 19: I Robot, You Jane Part 3

**Chapter 19: I Robot, You Jane Part 3**

"I'm gonna kill Dave," Xander said. He strode across the floor in front of Buffy and Dawn, so upset he was practically waving his arms.

"He tried to warn me," Buffy pointed out.

"Warn you that he set you both up!" Xander turned to Giles.

"I don't understand what would make Dave do a thing like that," Dawn said.

Giles cleared his throat. "I think perhaps Paige and I do."

Xander stopped his nervous motion. "Care to share?"

Paige lifted an oversized book from one of the tables. "Does this look familiar to any of you?"

"Yeah, sure. It looks like a book," Buffy said.

Xander nodded. "I knew that one."

"I think I remember it," Dawn said. "It was the one Buffy uncrated and you had it put on the pile for Willow to scan."

"This particular book was sent to me by an archeologist friend who found it in an old monastery," Giles explained.

Xander hid a fake yawn. "Wow, that's really boring."

Giles glared at him. "There are certain books that are not meant to be read. Ever. They have things … trapped within them."

"Things ..." Buffy echoed.

"Demons," Paige said.

Giles took a deep breath. "In the Dark Ages, demons' souls were sometimes trapped in certain volumes. The demon would remain in the book, harmless, unless the book was read aloud." He pointed to a carved image on the cover. "If I'm not mistaken, this is Moloch, the corruptor."

"I have Piper and Phoebe looking through the our Book of Shadows," Paige said. "So far nothing."

"I on the other hand have found something. He is a very deadly and seductive demon. He draws people to him with promises of love, power, knowledge. Preys on impressionable minds."

"Like Dave's." Dawn said.

Giles nodded. "Dave, and who knows how many others."

Buffy leaned forward. "And Moloch is in that book?"

"No, he's not," Paige said. "Before you jumped to conclusions neither of us released him. When I found it the book was already blank. Giles told me it was in a very rare dialect, no one would have been able to understand it to even read it. What I believe happened is this, as Willow scanned the book it brought Moloch out as information to be absorbed."

Buffy nodded. "He's gone binary on us."

Xander held up a hand. "Okay, for those of us in our studio audience who are me, you guys are saying that Moloch is in this computer."

Dawn looked at him. "And in every computer connected to it by a modem."

"He's everywhere." Giles said, clearly appalled.

Dismay spread across Xander's face. "What do we do?"

Buffy looked at Giles and Paige. "Put him back in the book?"

"Willow scanned him into her file," Paige suggested. "This may be impossible, Moloch could have put up any kind of barrier to keep us from doing exactly what I am about to suggest. But we should try and delete the file."

"Solid," Buffy said as she grinned at Paige. She slid onto the chair in front of the computer, cracked her knuckles, and turned on the CPU.

"Don't get too close." Dawn said nervously.

"Okay, so which file do you think it is?" Buffy wondered aloud. She regarded the icons on the program screen. "Willow," she decided. "That's probably it, right? I'll … just delete the whole thing."

"Good idea," Paige said. "Worst case scenario she will have to rescan some of the books."

Buffy nodded as she positioned the cursor over the Willow file icon and dragged it over to the Trash. Then she nearly jumped out of her seat as the computer's program screen abruptly flashed to black, then re-formed into a digitized image of Moloch the Corruptor himself. The image turned and grew until it filled every inch of the monitor, and suddenly a voice—hateful and loud—roared from the computer's tiny speakers.

Stay away from Willow! It's

None of your business.

And without her touching it, the entire computer shut down.

For a long moment, none of them moved.

"'Stay away.'" Dawn paused. "That's just what Dave said when Buffy and I asked about Willow and ..." She looked at Paige, Giles and Xander. "Malcolm."

Xander's face went rigid. "What are you two thinking?"

Buffy looked up at her sister who nodded in agreement at the unspoken question. "I think Dawn and I are both wishing Willow's new boyfriend was just an axe-murdering circus freak."

Ten minutes later, and they still hadn't figured out any better way to deal.

"Okay," Buffy finally said in disgust. "So much for 'delete file'."

Giles expression had grown darker by the minute. "This is very bad."

Xander still seemed only slightly convinced there was a true problem. "Are we over-reacting?" he asked. "This guy's in a computer, what can he do?"

Buffy shot Xander an I-don't-believe-you-don't-get-it look. "You mean besides convince a perfectly nice kid to try and kill me and Dawn?" She shrugged in fake carelessness. "I don't know—mess up all the medical equipment in the world?"

"Randomize traffic signals..." Giles offered.

"Access launch codes for our nuclear missiles..." Dawn suggested.

"Destroy the world's economy..." added Paige.

Dawn looked at him. "I think I pretty much capped it with the nuclear missile thing."

Paige smiled at Dawn. "You are right, of course. Not much would be worse than a nuclear missile being launched."

Xander threw up his hands. "Okay, he's a threat. I'm on board with that now. But what do we do?"

Buffy tapped her fingers against the computer tabletop. "The first thing we do is find Willow," she decided. "She's probably talking to him right now. God, that creeps me out."

Xander scowled. "What does he want with Willow?"

The five of them looked at one another.

Paige had an inkling of what he might want, she remembered something Piper and Phoebe had told her about an attempt to steal the Halliwell family's Book of Shadows. Prue had been married through dark magic to a warlock and she, Piper and Phoebe had all been turned evil till they killed the person who had performed the ritual which turned them back good. Moloch might be trying to do the same to Willow. Which meant she needed to talk to the Elders and see if Willow was a witch.

"Let's never find out." Paige finally said.

"Okay, Dawn and I will check the computer lab," Buffy said as she and Dawn headed for the door. "Paige, maybe you should orb to her house. See if she's home?"

With that, Buffy and Dawn were out of the library and hurrying down the hall, much more frightened for their friend than they would ever cared to admit.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The computer lab was a dark room. The cubicle where Willow usually worked was empty—as was every other one. Before either Dawn or Buffy could ponder this, however, there was the electrical hum of equipment, then all the monitors flickered to life at once. Then they just … sat there, as if they were staring at her and waiting for something. Or someone.

"Willow?" Dawn said.

"I …" Buffy started. "Let's get out of here."

Dawn nodded as she moved toward her sister, as she did so she bumped into something. She looked up and her hand came up to her mouth and she bit her knuckle in distress. "Buffy," she whispered.

Buffy turned and saw that Dave hung from a rope fixed to the ceiling, his corpse rocking from side to side, the rope creaking softly in the stillness.

"Dave..." Dawn said.

Hesitantly Buffy reached out and stopped the sway of the body so she and Dawn could read the note taped to his chest. Neither of them believed a word of it.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige orbed in on Willow's front porch. As she started to knock, the door swung open, unlocked. "This isn't good," she said to herself as she stepped inside. "Willow?" Thanks to Buffy and Dawn's directions, Paige knew where Willow's bedroom was. She hurried up the stairs, making a beeline to the very room. "Willow?"

The moment Paige stepped into the room she realized it was empty. On the bed was Willow's book bag. She looked around and her gaze stopped on the computer and the message that had come up, obviously from Malcom.

 _No more waiting. I need you to see me._

"See him how?" Paige wondered. "And where?" Then the answer came to her. "Possibly CRD? Buffy and Dawn did tail Dave there. I bet whatever Moloch is doing its happening there."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy and Dawn got back to the library in time to see Paige orb in.

"Willow's not home," Paige said to the sisters. "I believe she may be at CRD."

"What leads you to believe that?" Giles asked.

"Simple, Dave went there. If Dave was one of Moloch's followers then it makes sense he would go where Moloch sent him and for a reason. Whatever that reason is, it's there." She looked to the sisters. "You two need to go to CRD. Try and rescue her. I'll help Giles try and bind him again."

Buffy nodded as she took Dawn's hand, she was surprised when she felt Xander's hand in her other.

"She's my friend, too," Xander said.

Buffy smiled at Xander and nodded and then the three of them orbed out.

"How are we going to bind him?" Giles asked.

"You have the ritual?" Paige asked.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy, Dawn and Xander orbed in just inside the gate.

"Back way?" Xander suggested.

Buffy nodded. "Back way."

They darted across a small open area, then they were at the door. Buffy tried the knob, found it locked as expected, then reared back and kicked the thing out of their way.

With a glance at behind them, she motioned Xander to follow her inside CRD.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Willow came to lying on a steel gurney. She sat up quickly to find herself in a lab of some sort, but much darker than the facilities at school and deeper in shadow. Everything she saw was made of high tech metal or plastic. As her gaze swung around, Willow finally pinpointed the door, a lighter rectangle amid the gloom.

But before she could stand and run for it, figures filled the entryway.

 _Welcome. My love._

Willow shook her head and tried to clear it. The voice—it was familiar, but not. She found her footing and turned slowly, still trying to get her bearings. Glowing in the darkness at the other end of the room was a computer terminal, and Willow finally realized who she was hearing.

 _I can't tell how good_

 _It is to finally see you—_

Then to Willow's horror, a heavy, metal hand lowered into view and rested on top of the monitor.

She didn't want to, but she had to lift her head until she saw the rest of the package attached to. The voice, Willow realized, hadn't come from the computer at all. Rather, it had come from this … thing stepping out of the darkness and coming toward her, a huge, horned demon, hideous to look at and made entirely of gleaming metal. A robot, complete with malevolently glowing red eyes.

 _—With my own two eyes._

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"So what's the first thing the ritual says," Paige asked when Giles had returned with the ritual text.

"The first thing we have to do is form the Circle of Kayless," Giles said. "But there is only two of us. That's really more of a line."

"Actually," Paige said. "If he's in the computer. We have to form the circle on-line. I'll be right back." She then orbed out. She orbed to Piper, Phoebe and Joyce and then proceeded to orb them around the country to internet cafes with the instruction to contact her once they were online. Then she orbed back to the library. "Okay, I have Joyce, Piper and Phoebe in internet cafes around the country. Once were all online we will be able to form a loose circle."

Concern creased Giles's forehead. "Won't Moloch just shut you all down?"

"Well," Paige said with a determined expression, "I'm betting he won't figure out what we're doing until it's too late."

"'Hoping' and 'betting.' That's what we've got." He stared at the computer as if his wished he could help it along.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Willow edged backward, trying to put distance between her and Malcom. One foot, one more… then the white-coated scientist realized what she was doing and grabbed her by the arm. Instintively, she yanked roughly away, then glared at Malcom. "I don't understand," she said. "What do you want from me?"

The metal demon gazed in her direction, as if it couldn't believe she didn't know.

 _I want to give you the world._

"Why?" Willow demanded.

Another gray metallic stare before he answered.

 _You created me. I brought these humans_

 _Together to build me a body, but you gave_

 _Me life. Took me out of the book that_

 _Held me. I want to repay you._

Willow shook her head, fighting not to cry. "By lying to me. By pretending to be a person?" She paused struggling even more with unshed tears. "Pretending that you loved me."

 _I do._

Before she could reply, Malcolm spread his huge clawed hands as if in supplication.

 _Don't you see? I can give you_

 _Everything. I can control the world._

He stopped for a moment and Willow thought she could almost see the thought processes going on in his computerized head, the files being read and stored, the cross-referencing. His next words confirmed her suspicions.

 _Right now a man in Beijing is_

 _Transferring money to a Swiss Bank_

 _Account for a contract on his_

 _Mother's life. Good for him._

"You're evil." Willow said flatly. But Malcolm wasn't all perturbed by her statement.

 _Is that a problem?_

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy marched through the hallway door and met a security guard midway. He blocked her path and reached for his weapon, but Buffy's fist made friends with his nose without her even breaking stride.

"Buffy—" Dawn shouted from where she stood next to Xander looking at a security station.

Buffy turned and looked to her sister who motioned her over. When she stood beside Dawn and Xander, he pointed at the figures on a small video monitor built into the desk above a label that read Robotics Lab 02.

"It's her!" Buffy exclaimed.

"Yeah," Xander agreed.

They peered at the screen, where Willow was facing off with something else—something huge and dark and menacing. Panic edged Xander's voice.

"But who's the other guy?" Dawn asked.

Without answering, Buffy sprinted for the door followed by Dawn and Xander. Inside were stairs and it wasn't hard to follow the signs to the second floor. Finally they burst into the room adjoining where they wanted to be, but when Buffy yanked on the handle to the door marked Robotics Lab 02, she found it solidly locked.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Almost there," Paige said. A map of the United States was splayed across the computer screen in front of her, and on it was a line running from Sunnydale to various cities around the country. Point to point, they blinked to form a national circle.

Giles frowned at it. "Couldn't you just stop Moloch by entering some computer virus?"

"You've seen way too many movies," she said without taking her eyes from the screen. "Okay—we're up!" Now she did turn to him, her expression all business. "You read, I type. Ready?"

"I am," Giles answered.

Paige rubbed her hands together before posing them over the keys.

Giles cleared his throat and began reciting the ancient binding ritual. "By the power of the diving," he intoned. Paige typing rapidly, keeping up with every word. "By the essence of the word. I command you—"

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Let me leave." Willow begged.

 _But I love you._

The sound of the metallic voice uttering those special words nearly made Willow break down. "Don't say that! That's a joke—you don't love anything!"

 _You ... are mine._

Her face twisted in anger and regret, Willow stood her ground as he stepped toward her. "I'm not yours—I'm never gonna be yours. I hate you."

That seemed to make Malcom pause. He lowered his heavy, horned head. After a moment, he lifted his chin and the light pulsed behind his eyes.

 _Pity. I'll miss you._

When he grabbed her head, his speed was much more terrifying than Willow had expected. She was screaming even before his fingers began to tighten.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Giles's voice was filled with righteous power, one hand gesturing as he recited the ritual. "By the power of the Circle of Kayless, I command you!" He paused for a moment and looked at the screen, then back to Paige. "Kayless. With a 'K'."

Paige stabbed at the erase key. "Right. Sorry."

Giles looked back at his book and took a deep breath.

"Demon, COME!"

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the midst of her scream, Malcom suddenly let her go.

He reared back as if someone had looped an invisible chain around his neck and pulled, and his own bellow—long and harsh—cut through the room.

Suddenly behind Malcom Buffy orbed in with Xander and Dawn.

"Buffy, Xander, Dawn!" Willow cried.

Malcolm reached for Willow again and Buffy drew herself up, and launched into a flying kick straight at the center of Malcolm's stomach.

The robot demon tottered backward but maintained its balance. "Ow!" Buffy exclaimed as she thumped to the floor. "Guy's made of metal."

Behind Buffy, the lab guy grabbed at Dawn who squinted and sent flying backward hitting the wall hard and sliding to the floor unconscious. Xander yanked Willow toward the door, but not before Malcolm saw them and planted his hulking robot form in front of them. His arms stretched out, then he clutched his head and screamed again.

 _No! I won't go back—!_

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The library computer hummed and suddenly popped, sending a shower of sparks over the keyboard as the screen flashed.

"Whoa!" Paige said and scooted backward.

"I COMMAND YOU!" Giles bellowed.

Paige knew what was at stake as she squared her shoulders, leaned over and banged out the words on the keyboard, ignoring the sparks and the whirlwind of colors now streaming across the screen. She hit the Enter key with a solid thwack! And a sort of cosmic boom filled the library, swirling around her and Giles with nearly tornado force.

Then it was over, and the screen went dark.

"It worked!" Paige said triumphantly. "He's out of the net. He's bound!"

Giles blinked at the screen, then reached for the antiquated leather-bound volume and flipped it open.

"He's not in the book," Giles said slowly.

Paige's eyes were huge and she hurried over. "He's not in the book?" Then she saw the creamy, blank expanse of the old pages. "Where is he?"

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Willow, Xander, Dawn and Buffy scurried through the lab door and they made for a door farther down the hall. They were right on top of it when it swung open, revealing the security guard from the first floor with two more scientist-types for backup. Before the uninvited trio could come through, Buffy slammed the door shut again and twisted the lock below the knob.

Xander tugged at Buffy's arm. "Let's go this way!" He sprinted in the other direction.

Buffy looked at Dawn and Willow. "Wait!" she called. Suddenly the entire wall in front of them literally exploded as an enraged Malcolm smashed through it. It turned its head, saw Xander when he spun back, and backhanded the boy. Willow screamed as the robot grabbed first Buffy and then Dawn and tossed them against the other wall as though they were made of nothing but feathers. Stunned, they both slid down and didn't move.

There was no denying the robot demon was furious. His eyes were burning coals, and when he spoke, his voice was black thunder, sinking into their eardrums like shards of steel.

 _I was omnipotent! I was everything!_

 _Now I'm trapped in this shell!_

Still dazed, Willow realized that all Buffy and Dawn could do was wait as Malcolm's terrible clawed hands reached for them both.

"Malcolm!"

The metal monster turned at the sound of Willow's voice. She'd seen the oversize fire extinguisher on the wall and now she hefted it, then smashed it into his head as hard as she could.

"Remember me?" Willow demanded through gritted teeth. "Your girlfriend?"

Before Malcom could recover, Willow swung the fire extinguisher again—

"I'm thinking we should break up!"

—and again.

"But maybe we can still be friends."

She tried to swing a fourth time, but Malcom knocked it out of her hands, then hit her. She went sailing through the air and crashed into Xander as he tried to stand.

Malcolm swung back at Dawn and Buffy. Untangling herself, Willow saw her friends wobble upright, then Buffy automatically punched the robot in the stomach.

Bad idea.

"Ahhhh!" Buffy yelled, backing up and shaking her hand.

"I could have told you," Dawn whispered as she squinted. But Malcom didn't move an inch. "Dang powers. He's either too heavy or it's because I'm still learning.

The Malcom robot matched the sisters step by step. His next words were filled with evil intent.

 _This body is all I have left,_

 _But it's enough to crush you._

Dismayed, Willow realized that Malcom had now backed Buffy and Dawn into a corner—there was no escape. Then she saw Buffy glance behind her and focus on a huge, high voltage breaker box right above her shoulder. She nudged Dawn and nodded with her head. Dawn nodded as she followed her sister's gaze and together they took a final backward step and grinned at the monster.

"Take your best shot." Buffy and Dawn said simultaneously.

Malcolm drew back his gleaming fists and drove them toward her Buffy and Dawn's faces with everything he had—

—and Buffy and Dawn ducked.

Malcolm's punch slammed into the breaker box. The smell of electrical current filled the room as mini flashes of lightning zipped over and around Malcolm's robot form. He shook violently and took a step toward Buffy and Dawn as smoke and sparks poured from his eyes. His heavy jaw quivered but no sound came out.

The sisters didn't wait around. "Get down!" Buffy screamed as she and Dawn dove to the floor next to Willow and Xander.

It was then that Malcom exploded, and when the smoke finally cleared, all they could do was sit there and stare at Malcolm's lifeless, metal-sheathed head.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"How's Willow?" Paige asked Buffy the next day.

"A little glum," Buffy responded with a sigh as the two of them sat in a restaurant eating dinner. "Her first boyfriend and he turned out to be a demon robot."

"I wish I could say you all will learn from this lesson," Paige said. "But you all can't help who any of you will fall in love with. Just look at us."

"I know," Buffy said. "Xander had a crush on a giant praying mantis and I'm in love with my Whitelighter. Who knows what supernatural thing Dawn will fall for? But given the trend it will be something supernatural."


	20. Chapter 20: Little Box of Horrors Part 1

**Chapter 20: Little Box of Horrors Part 1**

Nina ran into an alley, breathing heavily from the exertion, carrying a small black box in her hand. She glanced quickly behind her before continuing into the alleyway. As she walked into the alley she let out a sigh and clutched the box to her chest.

Suddenly from out of nowhere she is kicked in the face. Her necklace fell to the ground as she went tumbling. The small black box wretched free from her grip, slid to a stop a distance away from her.

Nina groaned as she got up just as the demon Katya landed on her feet behind her.

"It's Nina, right?" Katya said as Nina turned to look at her.

"You'll never get it," Nina said. "I won't let you."

Katya smiled. "I didn't ask for your permission." She chuckled as she advanced slowly on Nina, who took a step backward. "It's only a matter of time, you know, before I get the box."

"Over my dead body," Nina said.

"That's the thing with you Guardians. You're always dying for that damn box."

"Not always," Nina said as her hands glowed and she blasted Katya telekinetically.

Katya flies backward, but managed to catch herself just before she hit a wire fence. She then landed gently on her feet as she took a dagger out from its holder in her pants. "Oh, come on, you can do better than that." She then took out a second dagger that had been hidden behind her back. She turned and threw the dagger at Nina who dodged backward, catching the dagger mid-flight.

Nina glared at Katya who smirked back at her.

Katya swung the dagger in a wide arc as she stepped toward Nina, who moved and blocked Katya.

Nina pulled the dagger back and kicked Katya in the face. She jabbed the dagger at Katya who moved aside.

Katya grabbed Nina's hand and jabbed her dagger at Nina. They grab each other and suddenly Nina stepped backward from Katya just as the black box glowed and the disappeared.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige squinted her eyes tightly as she held her fingers to her ears trying to block out the sound of a irritating high-pitched whine. "Phoebe?" she called out.

"Coming!" Phoebe called back as she walked into the living room carrying a cup. She headed over to Paige. "Coming. I used castor root this time. It should dull all the senses."

"I don't care," Paige said with a sigh. "Just give it to me."

Phoebe sat down and handed Paige the cup. She watched expectantly as her sister drank from it.

"Thank you," Paige said as she noticed Phoebe smiling at her. "Do you mind?"

"Do I mind what?" Phoebe asked.

"Looking so psychotically perky," Paige told her, "while I'm so miserable?" She grimaced at the incessant whine and tried to ignore Phoebe.

"You know, maybe it's psychosomatic," Phoebe said. "I mean, the inner ear has to do with balance, so maybe you're feeling imbalance because the whole magic school thing."

Paige let out a sigh. "Remember Leo took over, I haven't even been back for a few weeks now."

They both turned when they noticed Wyatt orb into the room in front of them. They noticed that Wyatt was dressed in a bath robe looking rather guilty.

"Hey, big boy," Phoebe said. "I thought it was bath time."

"Uh, it is," Leo said as he walked into the room and knelt next to his son. "Uh, hey, buddy. That was, uh, pretty funny, but I don't think mommy's going to think so."

"What's going on?" Phoebe wondered.

"Uh, I think the terrible twos have begun," Leo said with a sigh.

"Oh, well, magical boys will be magical boys," Phoebe said.

"Yeah, well, try explaining that to his magical mama," Leo said as he turned back to Wyatt. "Listen, I think you better orb back upstairs before mommy turns you into a toad."

Wyatt orbed out of the room.

Paige groaned at the incessant whinning which now included pounding her head. "Ow!"

Leo turned and looked at Phoebe and Paige. "What's the matter?"

"She has a ringing in her ears," Phoebe explained.

"No. It's more like a jackhammer," Paige said.

"Really? Is it kind of like a dentist's drill that kind of goes in and out?" Leo asked.

Paige nodded. "Yeah."

"Why, you know what it is?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, it could be another of your whitelighter powers coming on," Leo said as he knelt down in front of them. "You know, you could be hearing the call from the Elders. Before I learned to control my powers, it used to drive me nuts."

"No. That's unacceptable," Paige said as she rubbed her temples. "Ow."

"Okay. Well, you're half-Whitelighter," Leo said. "You can't deny that."

Paige sighed. "Yes, I can. I want nothing more to do with the Elders, okay? Not after them trying to force me and Buffy together."

Leo sighed. "I understand that, but you do have to admit that you do love my daughter so their meddling was good. Regardless if it is what I think it is, you're not going to have a choice. The only way to find out is to actually talk to an Elder."

Paige rolled her eyes.

"Well, you can't bring one over here," Phoebe said. "Piper will freak out."

"All right, well, then maybe you should meet at Magic School," Leo said as Paige looked at him with exasperation. "Look, do you want it to stop or don't you? Come on. I'll go with you." He held out his hand as Paige grabbed it and sighed. She then orbed them both out.

Phoebe grabbed the cup off the table as she stood up. She looked up just in time to see a flurry of something happening in front of her.

Just then Nina appeared in front of her.

"Who are you?" Phoebe asked.

"Please, you have to help me find it before it's too late," Nina said.

"Find what?"

"Pandora's box!"

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Wyatt sat on the floor of the attic playing with his toys while Piper looked through the Book of Shadows. "Well, I guess since Excalibur is real, I don't know why it'd be a surprise that Pandora's Box isn't as well," she said just as Phoebe walked through the door and handed a cup to Nina.

"Oh, thank you," Nina said as she took a sip.

"How did you know to come to us?" Piper wondered.

"You're The Charmed Ones," Nina said as she dabbed at a bruise on her chin with a tissue. "Everyone in the magical community knows about you."

Piper sighed. "Yeah. That's becoming a problem," she said as the Book of Shadows orbed out from under her hands and onto Wyatt's lap. "Hey!" She turned to face her son and knelt down next to him. "Um, mister? Excuse me. Listen, what did I tell you about the orbing? Okay? Only when I say so." She picked up the Book of Shadows and placed it back on the bookstand. "Thank you very much."

"Piper, you can't deny who he is, through the good, the bad, and the annoying," Phoebe said.

"Ah, I see you've been talking to Leo, haven't you?" Piper asked.

"Look, just because you guys have completely different parenting styles doesn't mean you can take it out on me," Phoebe said. "I'm just the sister."

"And whose side are you on, exactly?" Piper asked as Phoebe chuckled.

"Back to the box?" Nina said as she moved beside Piper.

Piper nodded. "Right. Okay. Let me guess. A demon took it."

"No," Nina said. "But we better find the next Guardian before one does."

"Guardian?" Phoebe wondered.

"Like you, we're chosen beings, part of a magical lineage, one in which every generation a girl is born …" Nina said as Piper and Phoebe looked at each other. "What?"

"One girl in every generation," Phoebe said as Nina nodded. "You don't think?"

"I don't know," Piper said with a sigh. "Buffy's destiny is just beginning. I'm not sure we can thrust another upon her. Especially when she already had a rough go of it when she told her step-father about fighting vampires."

Phoebe sighed and nodded in understanding. Buffy, Dawn and Joyce had all told them what had happened after Buffy had been called and before Paige had been assigned as their Whitelighter.

"Who are you talking about?" Nina asked.

"My step-daughter," Piper said with a sigh. "She's a Slayer, one girl in all the world type deal."

"It could very well be her," Nina said. "Who better to protect the box than someone trained to fight evil? But still if it is her, she has not been instructed about the dangers and powers of the box."

"So, what does Katya want with the box?" Phoebe wondered.

"She wants to open it and release the world's ills: Sorrow, famine, plagues, all the evil inside."

"So, what's to keep the new Guardian from accidentally doing the same, especially if Buffy is the new guardian and she doesn't know what's in the box?" Piper asked.

"Nothing," Nina said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy and Willow talk on the phone. "Seriously, Buffy, it's all good. Stop stressing about Paige," Willow said.

"I know, but how can I not?" Buffy said with a sigh.

"Because she loves you," Willow replied. "You know she does. And you love her. So what if these Elders have been meddling?"

"I guess you right," Buffy replied.

"Mm-hmm," Willow said. "As always."

Buffy laughed at her friend. Out of a corner of her eye she spots a box she had not seen before. "Willow, let me get back to you." she said before hanging up. She looked to the box as she began to hear whispering coming from it.

She got off her bed and walked over to it and looked at it. She touched the lid cautiously and picked it up, opening the lid just a crack.

An awful screeching starts up as some black dust escaped from the box. She quickly shut the lid and started coughing as the black cloud rose up to the ceiling.

"What the heck?" Buffy asked as the black cloud of dust turned and zoomed out of the room escaping through an open window. She stared at the box.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Much to Paige's dismay, the high pitched whine continued as she stood in the Great Hall of Magic School talking to Sandra, one of the Elders.

"This is the global alert," Sandra explained, "Paige, one that only a whitelighter can hear. You should be looking at this as if it was a gift rather than a problem."

Paige turned around and glared at Sandra. "A problem, for me, is when Leo rearranges my books at home. I would classify this as a root canal?"

"Nevertheless, this is who you are, who you have become."

"Well, I don't want to become it, so fix it already!" Paige said exasperated.

"Fix it?" Sandra asked confused.

"Yeah, I don't think she wants to hear the call, ever," Leo explained.

"Well, that's impossible," Sandra said. "She doesn't have a choice. It would be as if you wished to no longer breathe."

"If this ringing doesn't stop, maybe I don't want to," Paige said as the ringing stopped. "Look, I 'm not to thrilled with you Elders meddling in mine and Buffy's lives. Why would I want to do anything for you guys right now? Or even become a full Whitelighter. "

"I know, Paige," Sandra said. "But becoming a full Whitelighter is as natural a part of your unfolding destiny as becoming a charmed one. As was becoming Buffy's Whitelighter."

"Perhaps if you explained to her why you called the alert," Leo suggested.

"We sensed a great threat, one which we have not yet been able to isolate," Sandra explained. "That is why we need every Whitelighter to be vigilant."

"Well then did you call Buffy, too?" Paige asked. "She's part Whitelighter, too."

"No we haven't," Sandra said with a sigh. "First her Whitelighter powers are only now awakening within her. Secondly she has a lot on her plate, she already has two destinies that being the Slayer and a witch would provide. Three could at this time be too much for her. We want to gradually ease her in to the added responsibilities that being a Whitelighter would entail. Especially after what happened in Los Angeles last year."

Paige let out a sigh and nodded. She remembered what Buffy, Dawn and Joyce had told her, Piper and Phoebe about the time after Buffy had been called and before the move to Sunnydale. "Just make it stop already, okay? Right now I'm not ready …"

"You know," Leo interrupted, "maybe if Paige ... helped a whitelighter-to-be instead?"

"That's a possibility," Sandra agreed.

"Why?" Paige wondered. "What would that do?"

Sandra smiled. "Helping others helps yourself ... to find some clarity."

"Well, if clarity ... makes this noise stop, whatever. I'll try it," Paige said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Phoebe and Nina watched as Piper scryed over a Sunnydale map.

"Come on, come on. What's taking so long?" Phoebe wondered.

Piper sighed and glared at her sister. "I just want to make sure Buffy is at home, okay?"

"Here. Maybe this'll help," Nina said as she removed her necklace and gave it to Piper.

Suddenly, an alphabet block is orbed as it falls from the ceiling and down onto the middle of the scrying table. It hits Piper's scrying crystal causing her to drop the crystal on the map. "Wyatt! Time-out means no magic!"

"Scry now, parent later," Phoebe said.

Piper looked to Phoebe. "Well, you know, it would help if I wasn't the only one around here who had to discipline him. Besides I will still have to parent once we find Buffy. You know as well as I she is not going to be happy to have another destiny thrust upon her."

Phoebe sighed. "Yeah," she said as she picked up the scrying crystal and necklace. "Let me do this."

"Please, we have to hurry," Nina said. "If the box has been opened or if a demon's found it –"

"We won't let that happen. I promise," Phoebe replied. "Look, we do this all the time."

"Maybe we need a stronger connection," Piper said.

"I don't know what else to try," Nina said.

Suddenly, the scrying crystal hit the map.

"Got her," Phoebe said. "She's at Sunnydale High. Probably took the box to Giles."

Nina looked at Piper and Phoebe. She quickly headed for the door.

"Whoa!" Piper said. "Where are you going?"

"You've done your jobs. Now I have to go do mine," Nina replied.

"Wait, you saw where that got you last time," Piper said. "Why don't you let us go with you? Besides this is my step-daughter. She is more likely to accept this if I'm there than if you go alone."

"I can't let you risk it," Nina replied.

"Well, we can't let you risk it, either, not as long as there's a demon after that box," Piper replied.

Nina sighed. "All right, but I'll transport us there. It'll be faster."

"What about the Elders?" Phoebe asked.

"What about them?" Piper wondered.

"Well, I mean, it's Pandora's Box. We should probably tell them something," Phoebe said.

Piper nodded. "All right, you tell them. Mommy needs a time-out."

"A time-out from one child to go deal with another?" Phoebe said.

"Right," Piper said with a sigh. "Mommy needs a time-out from Wyatt. Buffy I think I can handle, I hope."

Nina put her hands on Piper's shoulder and they disappeared in a flutter of particles.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"You can't do this to me. It's not fair!"

Piper frowned as she and Nina headed for the Sunnydale High Library. "What's going on around here? Something's not right."

"She must've opened the box," Nina replied. "It's the first wave of sorrow. We have to hurry ... before you become affected, too."

They walked up to the library door and saw Buffy, Dawn and Giles looking over the box. They stepped into the library which drew everyone's attention.

"Piper?" Buffy said as she looked up at the older woman. "What is it?"

"This is Nina, and we need to talk to you about the box," Piper said.

"You know what it is?" Dawn asked.

Nina nodded. "You have come into possession of something more powerful than anything you have ever known."

Piper sighed. "Yeah, okay, see, I was going to go with the less intimidating tactic, but –"

Nina walked over to the box and picked it up. She looked at Buffy. "How did it come to you?"

Buffy shrugged. "I don't know. It was just there. What is going on? What is the –"

"Buffy, you've had greek mythology in your history classes right?" Piper asked.

Dawn's eyes went wide as she looked from Piper to the box and back to Piper. "Pandora's box?"

Nina nodded. "Yes, Pandora's box, a gift the gods gave to Prometheus, one that contained all of the evils of the world, until Pandora unleashed it on an unsuspecting people." She looked at the group as she glared at them. Then she said in another voice. "I hope to do the same.

"Aw, crap," Piper said as she realized that Nina wasn't Nina but the demon Katya.

Nina morphed into Katya.

"Oh, yeah, this is not good," Piper murmured. "This is not good at all."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

At the manor Sandra looked at Phoebe, who had just filled her in about the box. "This explains the global alert."

"Alert?" Phoebe asked. "What are you talking about?"

"The one that Paige and every other Whitelighter, except Buffy, heard. Pandora's Box exists solely to tempt. It's part of the grand design. If mankind chooses to open it again, so be it, but Guardians are supposed to protect it from being opened by demons," Sandra said.

"So, then we should be fine. Piper and Nina –" Phoebe said.

Sandra shook her head. "Nina never should've let it out of her sight."

"Well, apparently, she didn't have a choice," Phoebe said. "Uh, the box moved on to its next Guardian by itself."

"Oh, that's not possible," Sandra explained. "It can't move on unless the prior Guardian was already dead."

"Okay, you need to orb me to Piper immediately," Phoebe said.

Sandra nodded. "We didn't want to thrust another destiny on Buffy this soon, it's why she didn't hear the global alert," she said. "You and Piper are going to need to help her, if she is truly the next Guardian." She waved her hand and Phoebe orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Phoebe orbed into the library of Sunnydale High. The lower part of the room was a mess, the computer was on the floor and the table was overturned. "Piper? Where are you?!"

Piper and Buffy peered around from behind the overturned table as Giles and Dawn peered from behind the counter.

Phoebe sighed. "Oh, thank god you all are okay.

Piper sighed. "It seems we were right, Buffy is the new Guardian of the box. Too bad she doesn't have the box to guard."

"You mean the demon was telling the truth before she tore apart the library?" Buffy asked. "You guys know I don't want anything more supernatural to deal with."

"Buffy, calm down, okay?" Phoebe said.

"What was the woman that accompanied Piper?" Giles asked.

"A demon, the real Nina's dead," Phoebe said.

"Yeah, I figured," Piper said with a sigh.

"She … she was too much for me," Buffy said with a sigh. "She was strong threw me around like a rag doll. Only Piper's power seemed to do anything."

"We need to get you goin'," Giles suggested. "If that was Pandora's box. It means when Buffy opened it she released sorrow from the box and that was is happening outside is just the first wave."

"Great, so like a little appetizer?" Phoebe asked. "And Buffy's obviously immune to it, 'cause she seems more freaked than bummed."

"Can you blame me?" Buffy asked. "I mean come on. I accepted being the Slayer and a witch thanks to Paige. I knew in time I would have to accept being a Whitelighter also. But I also knew that Paige wanted to take that slow. But this is … is just too much."

Phoebe sighed. "I know how you feel, really I do. You know when Piper and I first found out we were witches, it was really scary because we didn't have anyone to guide us. But Buffy, you have us and Paige to help you. You even have Giles and Willow and Xander. We'll help you through this."


	21. Chapter 21: Little Box of Horrors Part 2

**Chapter 21: Little Box of Horrors Part 2**

In the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco, Paige stood with a man and a woman in an elevator as the doors opened. A young girl, Wendy, stepped in and turned to look at her father.

"Are you sure you don't want me to go down there with you?" the father asked.

"I'm fine, dad," Wendy replied.

"Now, remember, go straight to mommy, okay? She's waiting for you in the lobby."

"Dad ..."

The elevator doors started to close as a man in a business suit, Trey, came running out from the hallway heading toward the elevator. "Hey, hold the doors!" he said as he stuck his briefcase into the elevator stopping the doors form closing completely and when they opened again he stepped inside. "Thanks a lot." He reached over and pressed one of the buttons on the elevator's control panel.

Wendy looked at Paige. "I saw you on my way up, like an hour ago."

"Yeah. I've been looking for someone," Paige said as the elevator rattle and the number panel fluctuated between 17 and 18.

And then the elevator lights went out and then back on as the elevator itself jerked and rattled.

Wendy and Paige grabbed each other.

"What's happening?" said the woman, Linda, as the elevator lights go out again and the elevator stops completely.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me," Trey said as the lights came back on.

Linda turned and glared at the man, Roger.

"What?" Roger asked. "You're going to blame me for this, too?"

"How dare you even imply that's part of my agenda?" Linda asked.

"I'm not having anything to do with your agenda."

"I'm just standing here! I had nothing to do with it."

"I'm scared," Wendy said as she clung to Paige.

"It's okay," Paige said and then she noticed the whining she had been hearing all day had stopped. "Oh, my god, the ringing stopped. That means ..." She looked at the others and they stared back at her. "It's one of you. It –You—It stopped."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

At the Summers residence Piper paced the living room as she listened to Leo on the phone. "You're sure there is nothing?"

"I'm sorry, Piper," Leo said. "I've checked the book twice. There is nothing on a demon called Katya."

Piper sighed. "Okay, hang by the phone in case we need you," she said as she hung up. She looked to Phoebe, Buffy, Joyce, Dawn and Giles. "We know nothing. Katya is not in our book."

"Well, maybe we should try magic school," Phoebe suggested.

Suddenly Wyatt orbed into the middle of the living room, his teddy bear clutched in his arms.

"Hey, little brother," Buffy said as she knelt down next to Wyatt. She looked over her shoulder at Piper. "I thought you were trying to get him not to …"

"He's not supposed to," Piper said with a sigh. "Wyatt, you better orb back to daddy before he gets mad."

"Bye little bro," Buffy said as Wyatt orbed out. She looked at everyone and sighed. "This is too much. A demon out for the box I could handle. Being the next Guardian, I can't handle.

"Buffy," Phoebe sighed. "There's nothing that I can say that's going to make this any better. But this like everything else makes you who you are."

Just then the phone rang as Piper handed it to Joyce.

"Hello," Joyce said, "Willow, what's …"

"Phone," Buffy said as the phone orbed into her hand and she held it to her ear. "Willow?"

"Help," was all Willow said before the line went dead.

Buffy turned and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Piper asked.

"To find Willow. She sounded scared," Buffy said.

"Buffy, wait," Phoebe said as she started to follow Buffy.

"No!" Buffy said as she turned around and a powerful telekinetic blast emanated from her hands, hitting Phoebe square in the chest and pushing her backward into the wall.

"Ohh ..." Buffy said as she looked down at her hands and then orbed out.

Giles moved over and helped Phoebe to stand. "Are you alright?"

"Phoebe?" Piper said drolly. "You okay?"

"God, aren't you tired of asking me that?" Phoebe said. She looked to Giles. "I'm fine, thanks."

Piper smiled. "It does get a little repetitive. We've got to go get her somehow."

Phoebe shook her head. "It's okay. We can't force her to be okay with this. Look at us; you and Prue weren't okay with this at first. Even Buffy was not okay with being the Slayer at first. To find out in the course of only a few weeks that she is not only a Slayer, but part-Whitelighter, that Leo is her birth father, and that she is a witch. I can see why the Elders said they had been holding off on putting too much on Buffy's plate. She's not ready for this, not yet."

"What are we going to do?" Joyce asked.

"May I make a suggestion," Giles said. "Get the box before Katya can open it. I will head back to the library and see if I can find anything on how to deal with her in my books."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

At the Transamerica Pyramid Linda argued with a voice on the other end of the elevator emergency call box. "How are we supposed to stay calm? We're stuck!"

"Linda, please," Roger said.

"Ma'am, all I can say is we're doing everything we can," said a woman through the call box.

"Well, it's not good enough," Linda replied.

Paige turned back to her own phone conversation. "No, I said I'm trapped," she said as Wendy watched her. "There's people all around."

"What did you say?" asked Leo from the phone. "I can't hear you."

"I said, I'm trapped in an elevator," Paige repeated. "I can't just up and go. Besides, I don't want this ringing in my ears to come back"

"Wait, it stopped? When?" Leo asked shocked the whining had stopped.

"Right when we got stuck," Paige said.

"All right, then never mind. You need to stay there."

"No, wait, what about, Buffy and the box?" Paige asked.

"Piper and Phoebe can handle the box and help Buffy. And you need to help whoever is there that you need to help."

"Okay. Who am I supposed to help?" Paige wondered and then suddenly she heard nothing but the dial tone. "Leo! Leo? Ohh! Damn these phones."

"Yeah, mine's dead, too," Trey sighed. "Looks like we're going to be here for a while, huh?"

"Are you still there?" Linda said as she spoke to the call box. "Hello?! Answer me!"

"Honey, why don't you just let them do their job?" Roger asked.

"Don't _honey_ me. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't even be here."

"Oh, so now this is my fault?" Roger asked.

Trey rolled his eyes and moved over beside Paige and Wendy.

"You know, you were the one who wanted to go into counseling, not me," Roger stated.

"I think the natives are getting restless, huh?" Trey asked.

"Hmm. Yeah. Looks like," Paige said as Wendy huddled closer to her.

"So, what's your name?"

"I'm Paige," Paige said and the muttered to herself. "Please don't let this be the person I have to help."

Trey gave Paige a strange look and took a step away from her. "Oh, all right."

Paige looked at Wendy. "It's kind of nuts we're being stuck here like this, right?"

"I want my mommy," Wendy replied as Linda stopped arguing with Roger to listen.

"Oh, sweetheart, I know you do, but you know what? We're going to be just fine, I promise," Paige said.

"How do you know?"

"Well, because I know things like that."

Trey looked at the elevator ceiling, looking for a way out. He rolled his eyes at her response to Wendy's question.

"Honey, y-you okay?" Paige asked as Wendy started coughing.

"I have asthma," Wendy told her.

Paige sighed. "Fantastic. But I bet you have an inhaler in that pretty little purse of yours, right?"

Wendy shook her head. "My mommy has it."

"Of course she does."

Trey started climbing up the elevator to check the elevator roof.

"What are you doing?" Paige asked when she noticed what Trey was doing.

"I'm trying to get us the hell out of here," Trey told her as he started hitting the ceiling to see if it'll give way.

"Brilliant idea," Paige scoffed.

"Well, at least it's an idea."

Roger shook his head. "No, she's right, you know. You could get hurt."

"At least he's doing something, Roger," Linda said as she and Roger began arguing again.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You're acting like a little girl, Roger."

Wendy huddled still closer to Paige.

"I am not acting like a little girl," Roger replied.

"We're stuck in this elevator, and what are we supposed to do?" Linda asked. "Do you need your mother, Roger?"

"Good luck. You'll have better luck with her, you know?"

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

At the Rosenberg home, Buffy orbed into Willow's room. "Willow?"

"Mm-hmm. "

Buffy spun at the sound of the voice and found Katya behind her.

"Interesting I didn't expect you to be a Whitelighter to boot. You know these wonderful devices," Katya said as she motioned toward Willow's desk phone. "It makes luring someone into a trap so ... twentieth century."

"Where's Willow?" Buffy asked.

"Oh ..." Katya said as she reached out to touch Buffy's hair. Buffy took a quick step back out of her reach. "If you want to see her again, you will do what I say." Buffy let out a sigh. "First off, no orbing. Second …" She took a step toward Buffy and put her hand on Buffy's shoulder and they disappeared in a flutter of particles.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Giles let out a sigh as he looked at the stacks of books on the table of the Sunnydale High Library. He looked at Piper and Phoebe who had just returned from Magic School and had found nothing. They were like him going through the books on the table.

"You'd think there'd be something about Pandora's Box somewhere," Phoebe said.

Piper nodded. "Leo's been reorganizing Magic School, but maybe Rupert will have something?"

"We can only hope," Giles replied.

"Maybe we should have gotten Leo to help us while we were there?" Phoebe said as she opened yet another book.

"No, he's busy," Piper said.

"Busy doing what? What could be more important than this?" Phoebe asked.

"Globally, nothing," Piper replied. "Personally, I need him to wrangle Wyatt for a day so he can see what I'm talking about. Besides having to deal with Wyatt will get his mind off Buffy."

"You told him?" Giles asked.

"Of course," Piper said to Giles. "He is her father after all." She looked back at Phoebe. "You know, you have been much more optimistic lately."

"Yeah, I guess I have hope," Phoebe said.

"I found something," Giles interrupted. "About the demon. It seems she's a shape …"

"What?" Piper and Phoebe asked when they noticed his hesitation.

"She's a shape-shifter, which we knew. But think for a second, Joyce got a call from Willow just before …"

"You think it was a trap?" Joyce asked as she and Dawn walked through the library doors.

"It may very well have been," Giles said. "I think someone should call Willow's house."

"I'll do it," Dawn said as she moved toward Giles' office and the phone.

"While Dawn is doing that," Joyce said as she moved to the map and scrying crystal that Phoebe and Piper had brought from her house. "I'm going to scry for this demon."

"Even if we find her, we have no way of getting there. We're short an orber," Piper said.

"I believe there may be some teleportation spells in some of my private books," Giles said as he headed into the book cage.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy stared at the box on the table as Katya smiled at her, trying to charm her into opening the box.

"I won't hurt you, Buffy. I promise,' Katya said. "I know you're new to all this, including being a Slayer and a Whitelighter and I know all this can be very scary."

"Where's Willow?" Buffy asked. "She's not a part of this."

"Isn't she? I mean, she's merely a pawn in all this, a pawn like you are. I know everything you've become has been a lot to handle. Being the Slayer, a witch, and a Whitelighter, and now your step-mother tells you that you're meant to watch after Pandora's Box?"

Buffy let out a sigh. "I don't even know what it really is."

"You shouldn't have to know. You didn't ask for this. You don't want it. It's unfair."

"I just want my life back, I want to no longer be the Slayer, no longer be a witch, I just want my life back."

Katya smiled. "And I can help you get it back. All you have to do is help me. Open the box and you'll be free from it ... forever."

"But won't that –" Buffy started.

"End all this craziness?" Katya interrupted. "Well, that's what you want, isn't it? To go home ... with your friend? Go ahead. Open the box."

The box started whispering to Buffy as Katya stepped away from her. She reached out and picked up the box as she made her decision. "No ... I can't. I won't."

"Fine. I tried asking you nicely. Now I'll have to make you do it," Katya said. "Lucius!"

Lucius appeared in the doorway holding Willow who struggled in his arms.

"Will!" Buffy said.

"I'm scared!" Willow replied.

Lucius pulled Willow back with him and they disappear down the hall.

"Don't hurt her," Buffy said.

"You know what I want," Katya replied.

Buffy looked at the box.


	22. Chapter 22: Little Box of Horrors Part 3

**Chapter 22: Little Box of Horrors Part 3**

At the Transamerica Pyramid Trey was still looking for a way out.

"What are you doing?" Paige asked as she glared at Trey. "Are you out of your mind? What if the elevator starts?"

"Relax, sweetheart. I know what I'm doing," Trey said as he looked at the open electrical panel in front of him.

"Hello!" Linda said into the call box. "Is anybody there? What's going on? What is taking so long?"

Paige noticed that Wendy was beginning to have trouble breathing as she knelt down in front of the girl. "Okay, honey, I need you to breathe. Just breathe."

Roger who was trying to pry the doors open gives up and hits the doors in frustration. "Dammit!"

"Big man," Linda scoffed.

"Can you two get along for two seconds?" Paige asked.

"Hasn't happened in three years," Linda said. "Why do you think we're in marriage counseling?"

"Do you have to air out all our problems?" Roger asked.

"Oh, airing out our problems is your biggest concern?"

"Ahh," Trey shouted as he shorted out the wires and zapped himself. He fell off the elevator railing and hit the ground with a thud.

Roger grabbed Linda and stepped aside.

"Oh, my god!" Linda said looking at Trey.

Paige glanced at Wendy who was starting to panic. She moved over to check on Trey. "Uh ... okay," she said as she knelt down to listen. "He's not breathing."

"Oh, god," Roger said.

Paige pressed her fingertips against the side of Trey's check. "There's no pulse."

Wendy started coughing and collapsed to the floor.

"Oh, my god," Linda said as she rushed to Wendy and sat the girl up. "Come on, sweetie."

"What are we going to do?" Roger asked.

"Do you know CPR?" Paige asked Roger.

Roger shook his head. "No."

"Well, I need you to get down here and help me," Paige told him. "You're going to learn."

Roger nodded as he knelt down next to Paige and Trey. "All right." He put his hands over Paige's.

Paige turned to look at Linda. "I need you to sing to her."

"Sing?" Linda asked confused.

Paige nodded. "Just sing. Get her breathing in order," she said as Wendy gasped for air. "Anything. Just sing."

Linda held Wendy and starts to sing to her. "Hush, little baby, don't say a word."

"I need you to put two fingers above the xyphoid process," Paige said as she grabbed Roger's hands and put them on Trey's chest.

"The what?" Roger asked.

"Honey ... you can do this, honey," Linda said as she stopped singing.

Roger looked at Linda and nodded. "All right."

"Come on," Linda said as she returned to singing. "If that mockingbird don't sing."

"Push down five times for every breath," Paige told Roger.

Roger nodded. "Right."

"Go."

"One, two, three, four, five ... " Roger counted as he pumped Trey's chest.

"And if that diamond ring turns brass," Linda sang. "Come on. Sing with me."

"Mama's gonna buy you a looking glass," Linda sang as Wendy joined in with her.

"Good," Paige said. "Good job."

"And if that looking glass gets broke, mama's gonna buy you a billy goat," Linda and Wendy continue to sing as Wendy's breathing calmed down.

Linda smiled. "Good."

Roger looked over at Linda with Wendy just as Linda looked at Roger. He returned to doing chest compressions just as Trey lurched and started coughing.

"He's alive. Okay. He's alive," Roger said as he looked over at Linda and Wendy.

"Good job," Paige said just as the elevator gave a jolt and lurched. Suddenly the lights shut off again.

"Oh, god!" Linda said as the elevator shook, shivered and creaked loudly.

The lights come back on as the elevator door opens.

"Wendy!" Wendy's father said.

"Daddy!" Wendy said as she got to her feet and ran into both her father and mother's embrace.

"Ohh," Trey said.

"You okay?" Paige asked Trey just as the EMTs peered into the elevator. "He was electrocuted. We gave him CPR."

Roger got up and looked at Linda who turned and the two of them embraced each other.

Trey looked at Paige. "Thanks."

Paige sighed.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy slowly reached for the box as it continued to whisper to her.

"Open it ... or your friend dies," Katya said.

Buffy looked at Katya. "She dies, you die," she said and then picked up the box and opened the lid. Black dust slowly rose up, then shot straight up in a pillar of all things evil. The force of the explosive column of evil pushed her back onto the floor. She stared at the black cloud of evil hovering near the ceiling.

Katya smiled and laughed with glee as the black cloud of evil escaped out of the cave through the cracks and crevices in the walls. She turned to Buffy and took out the metal dagger from behind her back. "It's done."

"I figure you lied," Buffy said. "Don't think I will be a pushover."

"Don't worry I didn't think you would, after all you are a Slayer. But heck you are still only mortal."

Lucius appeared in the doorway.

"Since the next Guardian hasn't been born yet and with you dead, there won't be anyone around to put everything back," Katya said as she threw the dagger at Buffy.

Buffy smiled and held out her hand. "Dagger," she said and it orbed into her hand.

Katya frowned as she watched Buffy get to her feet.

"I'll say it again, I'm a Slayer. But I'm also a witch and a Whitelighter."

Just then Dawn, Piper and Phoebe appeared behind Buffy.

Piper looked around and took in the opened box on the table.

"We're too late," Piper said just as Lucius stepped toward them. She raised her hands and blasted him with her explosive power vanquishing him.

"I had to," Buffy told them quickly. "She has Willow. I had to make a judgment call."

"It's alright," Phoebe said.

Katya quickly stepped forward and closed the box. She held it and fluttered out of the cave, vanishing from their sight.

"Where is she?" Piper asked.

"This way," Buffy said as she headed into a tunnel with Dawn, Phoebe and Piper not far behind her. "Willow? Where are you?!"

"Willow?" Phoebe and Piper shouted.

"Willow, where are you?" Dawn shouted.

"Here."

They found Willow in a side cavern as Buffy ran to her friend. "You okay?"

Willow nodded. "Get me out of here."

Buffy nodded as they all took each other's hands and she orbed them out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Okay, well, I guess your day trumps my day," Paige said as they all sat in the living room of the Summers home. "Thanks for bringing me here to clean up the mess, though. Is anybody else feeling blue?"

"It's the effects of the box being opened," Joyce said.

"Okay, there's still a demon on the loose, and the longer she is, the more we're all going to be affected," Piper said.

"Yeah, exactly," Willow said. "We need to get out of here …"

"You're safer here," Giles said.

Willow shook her head. "No. Not as long as that demon is trying to kill us. We're sitting ducks."

Piper smiled. "Not as much as we are out there. As long as Katya knows that Buffy can put all the evils back in the box, she is a very large target."

"Which means you are, too," Giles said. "In fact Buffy it's a good thing you had your mother and Dawn go to help protect him."

"Buffy," Willow said. "I know you've been against all this from the start and that its been too much. No one says that you even have to care about this stupid box anymore."

"Actually, she does, you see?" Paige said. "Because it's her birthright."

"A birthright I never wanted Paige," Buffy replied. "It just been too much, being a Slayer, being a witch, a Whitelighter and now a Guardian. How much more can they ask of me, how much more can I take?"

"Buffy," Willow said, "think about it for a second. Why are they so interested in your protecting the box? Katya can shapeshift, she could be any of them. After all she's done it before. That's what she does, right? "

Phoebe nodded as an idea began to form in her mind. "I think she is right." she said as she looked to her sisters.

"Phoebe!" Paige shouted.

"We can't make Buffy do something she doesn't want to do. This is her path to either follow or not," Phoebe said. "But before we leave, Buffy, why don't you and Paige talk. This will after all affect your relationship."

Paige and Buffy looked at each other as they walked into the kitchen. Phoebe moved to follow them. "Anyone want a water?" she asked.

A second later Phoebe and Buffy returned.

"Why don't I walk you home, Willow," Buffy said as she and Willow headed for the front door.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Piper said to Phoebe.

"Trust me," Phoebe said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Willow closed the front door as they stepped onto the front porch. She glared at Buffy.

"What? What's the matter?"

Willow grabbed Buffy by the hair. "This is getting to be way too easy," she said as she shapeshifted into Katya. Buffy's eyes widen with surprise.

Katya laughed as she fluttered them out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Katya and Buffy flutter into the cave and she tossed Buffy forward next to Willow who lay on the ground.

"Buffy?" Willow said as she looked at her friend.

"I'm okay," Buffy said.

Katya smiled. "Actually, not for long."

Buffy turned and looked at Katya. "Okay, you heard me say it, and I meant it. I do not want anything to do with that box. I swear!"

"But you will ... in time," Katya said. "You'll come to believe in yourself again, your new powers, just like Pandora did. And then you'll want to get the box back, put the sorrows back—but, see, I can't let that happen." She knelt down and took out a dagger. She twirled it around familiarly in her hand.

Buffy got to her feet. "You won't have a choice."

Katya laughed.

"What?" she said. "You think you can stop me? Remember our first meeting. I through you around like a rag doll. Yes the Whitelighter powers took me by surprise but this time I don't intend to give you …"

"Dagger!" Buffy said as the dagger orbed out of Katya's hand.

Katya frowned. She thought she had fortified herself to neutralize Buffy's Whitelighter powers.

"How, I neutralized your Whitelighter power?" Katya asked surprised.

"Ah but that might have been the case if Buffy had been here," Buffy said. "Of course she's not the only Whitelighter." She released the glamour spell and morphed into Paige.

"Sorry we haven't met before, but I've been otherwise engaged!" Paige said as she threw a potion at Katya's feet vanquishing her.

"Paige?" Willow said. "Can you tell me exactly is going on?"

"Sure," Paige said. "Pandora's box is real. Buffy is the next Guardian and has been fighting it." She held out her hand. "Pandora's box!" As the box orbed into her hand and then handed it to Willow. "I need you to give this to Buffy for me. I'd give it to her myself, but there's somebody I have to see. Tell her, I love her, I will see her soon and that she is ready, ready for everything that comes and I will be there standing by her side through all of it." She waved her hand. "Buffy's house."

And Willow orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Willow orbed into the living room of the Summers home to find Buffy, Piper and Phoebe waiting.

"Willow?" Buffy asked.

Willow smiled. "I have a message from Paige. She'd give it to you herself. But she said she had someone she needed to see. She wanted me to tell you, that she loves you. That you will see her soon and that you are ready, ready for everything that comes and she will be there standing by your side through all of it."

Buffy smiled as she took the box from Willow. "That's her."

Phoebe nodded. "Good, I have to say I didn't want to make the same mistake twice. Okay Buffy, you are the only person that can do this."

"You can do it," Piper agreed.

Buffy took a step back and held the box close to her chest as she opened it. The black dust gathered in the living room, coming in from the open window, the cracks in the walls and ceiling. It swirled around the room and around the girls. They watch as the black dust obediently headed straight back into the box just as the lid closed.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige stood on the tallest tower of the Golden Gate bridge waiting.

"How are the ears?" Sandra asked as she orbed in.

"Better, thank you," Paige said. "It was pretty risky of you, sending me off to help a future Whitelighter."

"Was it?"

Paige nodded. "Yes. We almost didn't get Pandora's Box."

"But you did get it back," Sandra said.

"Yes."

"Which proves that you can handle both your Charmed and your Whitelighter responsibilities."

Paige sighed. "I don't see what that has to do with –"

"Didn't it make you feel so proud, accomplishing what you did in that elevator?" Sandra wondered.

Paige nodded. "Of course, I did," she said.

"And you did it all by yourself without your sisters, without even Buffy or Rupert Giles, or anyone. Maybe this is what you have been searching for, Paige, your separate identity. Being a Whitelighter can give you that and much more."

"Like what?" Paige wondered.

Sandra smiled. "Fulfillment. You're a natural, Paige. Everything you've been and done in your life has been preparing you to be a Whitelighter. Everything you needed to help those people has been inside of you all along."

"Well, it did feel good to save them."

"Then don't fight that. Embrace it, not for me, not for the Elders, but for yourself. Think about it?" Sandra said as she turned to leave.

"Wait," Paige said. "Just out of curiosity, who was the future Whitelighter I was supposed to save?"

"Actually you were saving two, but you just didn't know it. You and Buffy."

"Me and Buffy?"

"As I told you we did not want to thrust another destiny upon her so early. That is why Pandora's Box went to her; it knew that not only would she make the best person to be a Guardian. But also it knew she needed the courage to face her destinies all of them, and being Guardian would do that. If not for you, the demon might have gained the upper hand and killed her. So by saving yourself, you also saved her, in more ways than one. Before she was not ready for what lay ahead, but with your guidance she will be."

"Can I ask is that why you steered us together?" Paige asked.

Sandra smiled. "In part yes. But Kyle told you the truth, you are each other's rewards. But he did not tell you everything the seer saw in Buffy's life. This is why we went to the Angels of Destiny. We wanted a way to prevent it if at possible."

"Prevent what?" Paige wondered.

"Her death."


	23. Chapter 23: Nightmares Part 1

**Chapter 23: Nightmares Part 1**

Joyce shook Buffy's shoulder, who was still asleep in bed. "Time to get up for school."

"Oh, Mom ..." Buffy said as she sat up and fell into her mother's arms.

"Are you all right?" Joyce asked.

Buffy shook her head. "No, bad dream."

"Want to tell me about it?" Joyce asked with concern.

"It might be a premonition, I don't know," Buffy said with a sigh. "I want to talk to Paige and Giles and see what they think of it."

"Alright," Joyce said. "But you know if you need me for anything, even if it's just an ear. I'm here."

"I know, mom," Buffy said as she smiled at her mother.

"By the way, I spoke with Hank," Joyce said.

On Paige, Piper and Phoebe's recommendation Joyce had not said a word about Leo being Buffy's father. So as far as Hank was concerned he was still Buffy's father and had visitation rights. He was going to come get her and Dawn for the weekend after school the next day.

"He's coming?" Buffy wondered.

"You and Dawn are set for the weekend," Joyce replied. "Now remember he doesn't know he isn't your biological father, and we're not going to tell him till you turn eighteen."

"I remember, mom."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"So you see your dad a lot?" Willow asked Dawn as she, Buffy and Dawn walked to class.

"Not a whole lot," Dawn answered. "He's still in L.A. He only comes down for weekends sometimes."

"When did they get divorced?"

"Well, it wasn't finalized till last year," Buffy said. "They were separated before that."

"It must have been harsh," Willow stated.

"That's the word you're looking for," Buffy said. "I mean, they were really good about it—around us, anyway. But still ..."

"I can't even imagine it. My parents don't even bicker. Sometimes they glare. Do you two know why your folks ..."

"We didn't ask for all the details," Dawn said. "They just stopped getting along. I'm sure we were a big help."

"With the slaying and everything, I was a mess," Buffy added. "And of course with Dawn helping me, we were in a lotta trouble."

"Well, I'm sure that doesn't have anything to do with him leaving," Willow told them.

"No," Buffy and Dawn said together.

"He still comes down on weekends."

"Sometimes," the sisters said as they looked to one another just as they walked through the door into the classroom.

Everyone was already taking their seats. Cordelia, who sat next to Xander, studied herself in a compact mirror, adjusting her hair. Wendell stopped between her and the window to adjust his books.

"Hello ... Dufus ...?" Cordelia said as Wendell looked over at her. "You're blocking my light."

"Oh. Should I ...?" Wendell started.

"Move on?" Cordelia finished. "What a great idea."

"Sorry," Xander said to Wendell as he moved on by. He looked to Cordelia. "Sweetie?"

"What?" Cordelia said as she looked to Xander. "He was in my light."

"Wendell was in Cordelia's light," Xander told Buffy, Dawn and Willow as they sat close to them.

"Why are you so Evita-like, Cordy?" Dawn wondered. "Could it be the hair?"

"Weighs heavy on the cerebral cortex," Willow added.

"Hardy, har har," Cordelia said with a roll of the eyes.

"Hey guys. Was there any homework?" Xander asked.

"We're doing active listening today," Willow said.

"Cool. What's active listening?"

"That would be the homework," Dawn replied.

Xander shrugged, drawing a blank.

Buffy held up her 'Health and Human Development' textbook. "Chapter five. Active listening. Where you put on your _big ears_ and really focus on the other person?"

Xander shrugged again.

"Ms. Tishler demonstrated yesterday," Dawn said.

"With you," Willow added.

"You have to give Xander some leeway," Buffy said stepping in for her friend. "I believe he was staring at Cordelia's sweater yesterday."

Xander glanced at Cordelia who was looking at him and smiled. "The midnight blue Angora," he said.

"Is that all you think of, Xander?" Cordelia asked. "Is what's under that sweater?"

"No," Xander said trying to defend himself.

"Right," Cordelia said with a shake of her head.

Just as the bell rang Ms. Tishler walked through the door. "All right, take your seats. In a moment we'll choose partners and practice what we read in chapter five ..." Xander looked at her and mimed putting his _big ears_ on. "... good, Xander, that's the spirit."

Willow, Cordelia, Dawn and Buffy all rolled their eyes.

"Before we do, let's review. Isaacson's research lead him to conclude that one of our most fundamental needs, after food and shelter, is to be heard ..." Ms. Tishler said as Buffy dropped her pencil.

When Buffy bent down to pick up her pencil she noticed a twelve year old boy standing by the door to the classroom. He looked at her with a kind of remorse calm. She looked at him, confused wondering why he was there.

"Wendell would you read us the first two paragraphs on page seventy-eight ..." Ms. Tishler asked as Wendell nodded and reached for his textbook, "... where Isaacson describes the rapid movement active listening brought to some special needs clients –"

Wendell opened his text and screamed as spiders poured out of the book onto his desk, up his arms and over his face. He flailed about, scared out of his wits.

The teacher, the class, Dawn, Willow, Laura and Xander all freak out as Buffy whipped her head around, forgetting the boy to stare at Wendell in total shock.

Quietly Buffy and Dawn, being the two closest to the door heard the boy say softly … "Sorry about that."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The next day Joyce drove Buffy and Dawn to school.

"You're awfully quiet this morning," Joyce said with a glance at Buffy.

"I didn't sleep so good," Buffy replied.

"Another bad dream?" Dawn asked.

Buffy nodded with a sigh. "Yeah."

"Did you talk to Paige and Rupert?" Joyce asked.

"I didn't have a chance, I will today though," Buffy said. "Oh no, my bag. I packed for the weekend and I forgot it."

Dawn laughed and held up a bag. "Good thing I remembered it."

"Thanks, Dawnie," Buffy replied with a glance at her sister in the back seat.

"He's picking us up here, right?" Dawn asked. "At 3:30?"

Joyce glanced in her rearview mirror at her youngest daughter. "Honey, are you worried your dad won't show? That he found out about Buffy? That he won't come because he doesn't …" She left the sentence unfinished. Truth be told she had worried he would find out anyways.

"No. I mean, not really. Should I be?" Dawn wondered.

Joyce sighed. "It's just ... I know the situation's hard, with Buffy being Leo's daughter instead of your dad's. But just remember Dawn, and you too Buffy, that he adores both of you." Then she smiled. "No more than I do by the way."

"Thanks," Buffy and Dawn said.

"Have a good day," Joyce said as her daughters got out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Later as the bell rang Buffy and Dawn ran into Willow and Xander coming out of a classroom.

"Buffy, Dawn. We've been looking for you two," Willow said.

"We have?" Xander asked confused as he and Willow fell into step with the sisters.

Willow nodded. "About the spiders. Have you talked to Giles and Paige about—"

"Oh, the spiders. Willow's been kinda ... what's the word I'm looking for ... insane about what happened yesterday," Xander said.

"I don't like spiders, okay? Their furry bodies, their sticky webs–what do they need all those legs for anyway? I'll tell you: for crawling across your face in the middle of the night," Willow said as Dawn put a hand on her shoulder.

"I feel for ya," Dawn told Willow as she shuddered. "Buffy can attest to the fact that I just hate them with a passion."

Willow smiled at Dawn in appreciation before turning her attention to Xander. "How do spiders not ruffle you?"

"I'm sorry, I'm unruffled on spiders. Now if a bunch of Nazis crawled across my face ..." Xander said.

"It was pretty intense," Buffy agreed as she looked at her sister and Willow.

"Hellmouth, center of mystical convergence, supernatural monster. Been there," Xander said.

"A little blasé here, aren't you?" Dawn asked.

Xander shrugged. "I'm not worried. If there's something bad out there, we'll find, Buffy'll slay or the two of you will vanquish, we'll party."

They turned and walked through the doors of the library.

"Thanks for having confidence in me and Dawn," Buffy said.

Xander smiled. "Well, you both da man, Buff."

"Okay, but we're still caring about the spiders here," Willow said. "Let's not forget the spiders."

"Giles and Paige said they would look it up," Dawn said. "Giles? Paige?"

"Maybe they're in the faculty room," Willow said.

Suddenly Giles emerged from the stacks, coming through the door with a vaguely unsettle expression as he looked behind him.

"Hey. Giles. Wakey wakey," Buffy said.

"I was in the stacks," Giles said before muttering to himself. "I got lost."

"Where's Paige?" Buffy asked.

"Right next to Giles," Willow said. "You can't see her?"

Buffy shook her head. "No. Paige? Can she see me?"

Dawn looked from her sister to Paige. "Paige, can you see Buffy?"

Paige shook her head. "No," she said as she moved next to Dawn. Where is she?"

"Between me and Dawn," Willow said.

Paige looked between Willow and Dawn as the air between them began to shimmer.

Buffy followed Dawn's gaze toward where Paige stood as the air shimmered there as well and suddenly she and Paige could see each other again. She immediately fell into Paige's arms relieved that she could see Paige.

"Well, did you two find any theories on spiders coming out of books? Big crawly hairy …" Xander said as he ran his hand up Willow's back, causing her to jump. She turned and glared at him. "It was funny if you're me."

"We didn't find anything," Paige said as she stood there just holding Buffy.

"I think perhaps you'd best have a talk with Wendell himself," Giles added.

"Okay," Dawn said. "If he can still talk."

"You guys go ahead," Buffy said. "I'll catch up. I have to talk to Giles and Paige."

Willow, Xander and Dawn nodded as they left the library.

"What is it, Buffy?" Paige asked suddenly concerned.

"The last two nights I've been having dreams of facing the Master and in both of them I die," Buffy said as she buried her face in Paige's shoulder and tears began to fall.

Paige let out a sigh. "Do you think this was a premonition or just a random dream?" she asked.

"I don't know," Buffy said as she looked into Paige's eyes. "And that's what scares me."

Paige nodded and looked at Giles. "We'll look into it."

"Right," Giles agreed.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Wendell stared ahead, lost in thought as Dawn, Willow and Xander approached him.

"Hey Wendell, how're you doing?" Dawn asked.

"Huh?" he said.

"You okay?" Dawn wondered.

Wendell shrugged.

"Good talkin' to ya', man," Xander said as he started to leave.

"Did you guys want something ...?" Wendell asked.

"We just thought you might want to talk about what happened yesterday," Dawn said.

"You know with the spiders," Willow added.

Wendell looked up at them for a moment as if debating with himself. "I don't know what to say about that ..."

"There's nothing to say. You saw two hundred insects, you Gonzoed. Anybody would have –" Xander said.

Wendell shook his head. "They're not insects. They're arachnids."

"They're from the Middle East?"

"Spiders are arachnids, they have eight legs, insects have six," Wendell said. "Why does everyone make that mistake?"

"I don't know," Dawn said. "Has anything like that ever happened before?"

Wendell looked at Dawn and she saw that he had a haunted look in his eyes as he nodded.

"When?"

"Lots of times ..." Wendell said.

"Eeeee," Willow said. "You must hate spiders more than I do."

Wendell laughed. "I don't hate spiders, I love them. They hate me."

Just then the bell rang as Cordelia walked up to Dawn. "Hope you studied for the history test."

"What history test?" Dawn asked.

"The one we're having right now in fourth period," Cordelia told her.

"There's a test? Nobody told me about a ... I better, I gotta ..." Dawn said as she glanced toward Wendell, "we'll catch up during lunch."

Wendell shrugged as Dawn took off after Cordelia.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The teacher walked the aisles as he handed out the test.

Dawn looked around, a little desperate. Many of the other kids, including Cordelia, are already hard at work scribbling on their exams.

The Teacher gave Dawn a decidedly dirty look, dropped a test in front of her and then moved on.

Dawn looked at the teacher wondering what his problem was. She looked down and stared at the test, suddenly having no idea what the answers were. She looked at the clock: 11: 20 before looking back at her test. "I know my name," she said as she started to write 'Dawn' when her pencil broke. She sighed, dug out a small pencil sharpener, started to sharpen the pencil, glancing up at the clock again. It now read: 12: 10.

 _'Something is not right_ ,' Dawn though as the glanced at the clock again. There was no way 30 minutes could have passed already. She looked over at Cordelia, completing the third page of her test.

Suddenly the bell rang as the students got up and filed out of the classroom as they dropped their tests on the teacher's desk. Dawn looked at her own incomplete test: what just happened?

As Cordelia left Dawn noticed the boy from yesterday standing in the hallway just outside the door. Looking right at her before moving out of sight.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The boy, Billy, walked slowly through the hall unobserved by everyone else. He stopped as he looked at two girls gaining on him from behind. One of them, Laura, is talking to the other. "Well, they both got detention. Which is completely unfair since Sean started it. Anyway it means we can't do the movie."

Laura and the other girl stop before a door with a sign on it: BASEMENT ACCESS, MAINTENANCE PERSONNEL ONLY. "I'm gonna take a," she said as she mimed smoking, "break."

As her friend nodded and walked off, Laura walked up to the door and looked around. There were a few kids at either end of the hall, but no teachers or other staff. She quietly opened the door and slipped inside.

Billy watched her go into the stairwell, his face for the first time showing a hint of dread. "You shouldn't go in there ..."


	24. Chapter 24: Nightmares Part 2

**Chapter 24: Nightmares Part 2**

Buffy, Giles, Dawn and Paige were at the hospital walking down a corridor. They had heard of a girl who had been attacked in the basement and were on their way to find out by what.

"I think they said room 316," Buffy said.

"Do you two know this girl?" Giles asked looking at the sisters.

"Laura?" Dawn asked. "Only in passing. She's nice though. Nobody saw who attacked her?"

"I think Giles and I are hoping Laura did," Paige said as she glanced at Buffy. She let out a small sigh. She had yet to tell Buffy what the Elders had told her. She wondered if the dream Buffy had, had been a premonition warning Buffy about her future death?

They turned and entered room 316 passing a nurse. They stopped and looked at Laura who sat on the bed, her head bandaged and her eyes wide with fear.

"Hey, Laura," Buffy and Dawn said.

"Hi ..." Laura replied.

"Sorry to intrude on you like this," Giles started.

"That's okay—I don't want to be left alone."

"We want to make sure what happened to you never happens again," Paige said. "Can you tell us what happened?"

"I was in the basement ... I went down for a smoke ... there was someone ... there," Laura explained.

"Someone you knew?" Dawn asked.

Laura shook her head. "I never ... saw anything like it."

"It," Buffy said.

"Can you describe it?" Giles asked.

It's obvious pretty quickly that Laura is not up to describing it.

"That's okay," Dawn said. "Don't worry about it."

"Yes, you rest. You're safe now," Giles agreed just as a nurse entered the room.

"But if you remember anything, you can tell us," Paige said as she glanced at the nurse. "Even if it seems ... weird."

As Paige, Giles, Buffy and Dawn turned to leave Laura called after them, "Lucky nineteen."

"I'm sorry?" Giles said as they stopped and looked at Laura.

"It's what he said. Right before ... he said lucky nineteen. That's weird, right?"

Paige nodded. "It is. You get some rest. Don't worry we'll make sure he doesn't hurt anyone else."

They exit the room and pass Laura's doctor as he is about to enter her room.

"Doctor, is she going to be all right?" Giles asked.

"You family?" the doctor wondered.

Paige shook her head. "Friends."

The doctor nodded as he turned and led them down the hall away from Laura's room. "She'll recover. She's got a couple of shattered bones and a little internal bleeding. She got off pretty easy."

"Easy?" Dawn asked.

"Have you looked the word up lately?" Paige wondered.

"Well, the first one's still in a coma," the doctor said.

"The first what?" Buffy and Dawn asked.

"The first victim," the doctor said as he stopped in front of a window looking into a room. They see a boy lying on the bed hooked up to machines. "He was found a week ago. Exact MO as the girl. Only he's in worse shape. If he doesn't wake up soon ... Somebody's gotta stop this guy."

"Somebody will," Buffy said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"This can't be happening," Giles said as he looked at a stack of newspapers.

After Buffy, Dawn, Giles and Paige had returned from the hospital. Buffy had suggested that Giles and Paige look through the newspapers to try and find something about the first victim. "Can't be ..."

"What's the word?" Buffy asked as she and Dawn came up beside Giles.

"I've got back issues of the newspapers ... trying to do some research ..." Giles said.

Dawn nodded. "Uh-huh... Did you and Paige find anything?" Dawn asked.

"I don't know about Paige, she orbed to San Francisco to see if there was anything in their book. But myself well I'm not sure."

"You don't know if you didn't find anything?" Dawn asked.

"I'm having a problem."

"What is it?" Buffy wondered.

"I ... I can't read," Giles said.

"What do you mean? You can read, like, three languages," Buffy told him.

"Five, actually, on a normal day—but the words here aren't making sense," Giles said as he held up a paper. "It's gibberish."

Dawn noticed the picture on the front page of the paper Giles was holding as she took it from him. "Buffy," she said as she showed her sister the paper.

"That's him," Buffy said.

"Who?" Giles asked.

"That's the boy we've been seeing around school," Dawn said just as Paige orbed in. "When the spiders came out of Wendell's book, he was there. When I couldn't remember a thing on my history test, he was there."

"We've got nothing," Paige said and then she notice that Buffy and Dawn were looking at an article in a newspaper and moved beside them.

Buffy skimmed the article and read a portion of it aloud, "Twelve year old Billy Palmer was found beaten and unconscious after his Kiddie League game Saturday. Doctors describe his condition as critical... When was this published?" She looked at the newspaper's banner at the date. "Last week." She looked at Giles and Dawn. "He's in a coma, in intensive care ... this is the boy from the hospital."

"The first victim. You've been seeing him around school?" Giles asked.

Buffy nodded. "Yes. It seemed weird, him being around, but with all the trouble I forgot about it."

"So did I," Dawn said.

"The boy's been in a coma for a week," Giles said. "How is this possible?"

"Astral Projection," Paige said. "My eldest sister Prue could astral project herself outside of her own body. We may be seeing his astral body. But Prue was …" Then she remembered when she and Phoebe had been trapped by a spell and forced to relive moments in Piper's life. "Normally awake, I do know of one time though she astral projected while she was asleep."

"He's in a coma. That's like sleep, right?" Buffy suggested.

"In a manner of speaking. Though one doesn't always wake from a coma ..." Giles told her.

"Could I have been seeing Billy's asteroid body?" Buffy wondered.

"Astral body," Paige corrected. "It's a possibility. I'd know for sure if I knew his family was witches."

Dawn looked at the picture of Billy and noticed his uniform. "Lucky Nineteen ..." she said just as the library doors opened and Hank Summers entered the library.

"There you two are, I've been looking everywhere. Why aren't you both in class?" Hank said.

"Dad, what are you... you're not supposed to pick us up till after school, is something wrong?" Dawn asked.

"Well, I need to talk to you both," Hank said.

"Something is wrong," Buffy said suddenly worried. "Is it Mom?"

Hank smiled. "No. It's not your mother, she's fine."

"Phew," Dawn said. "You really had us—"

"Could I speak to you both for a moment, in private?" Hank asked.

"Sure," Buffy said. "Oh, this is Mr. Giles, the librarian. And Ms. Matthews, his assistant."

"This is our," Dawn added remembering that Hank didn't know that Leo was Buffy's real father, "father, Hank Summers."

"Pleasure," Giles and Paige said.

"Likewise," Hank said as he held the door open and Buffy and Dawn followed him out.

"We'll be back..." Buffy tossed over her shoulder.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Outside seconds later, Buffy, Hank and Dawn walked across the quad.

"I came early because there's something I need for you two to explain," Hank said.

"What do you mean?" Dawn wondered as they sat down on a bench.

"It's bad enough Joyce lied to me all these years," Hank said. "I had hoped one of you would tell me the truth. That I wouldn't have to find it out like this."

"What are you talking about?" Buffy asked.

Hank handed Buffy a piece of paper and Buffy looked at it frowning.

"What?" Dawn asked as she looked at it.

"Leo is asking dad to give up his paternity rights," Buffy said as she handed the letter to Dawn.

"That makes no sense," Dawn said as she read over the letter.

Hank sighed. "Girls, this letter puts things in a very bad light. I find out that Joyce had an affair before we were married and conceived you Buffy with another man. It makes me wonder, Dawn, if maybe you aren't someone else's child. I think for all of us, till this situation is cleared up that we suspend our weekend indefinitely, Dawn. And Buffy, since you are not my child, permanently for you." He got up and shook his head and then walked away.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the library Paige watched as Giles paced, thinking hard. Just then the doors burst open and in walked Xander, who was pulling on a gym shirt, and Willow. "Red alert. Where' s Buffy?" Xander asked.

"She and Dawn are talking to Hank," Paige said, "Dawn's father."

"What happened, where are your other clothes?" Giles asked.

"Oh don't I wish I had an answer to that question," Xander said.

"Xander kinda found himself in front of our class not wearing much of anything," Willow added.

"Except my underwear," Xander said.

Willow smiled. "Yeah, it was really ..." she said before noticing Xander glaring at her, "... bad. It was a bad thing."

"Bad thing? I was nude! Bad thing doesn't cover it." Xander said.

"Everybody staring ... I would hate to have everybody paying attention to me like that," Willow said.

"With nudity! It's a total nightmare."

Just then Willow connected the dots. "Well, yeah, Xander ... it's your nightmare!"

"Except for the part with me waking up going _it was all a dream_... It happened."

"Like it happened to Wendell," Willow said as she looked to Paige and Giles. "The thing with the spiders—Wendell had a recurring dream about that."

"And I've dreamt of getting lost in the stacks, of not being able to ..." Giles said as he nodded.

"And I dreamt that Buffy couldn't see me, that she couldn't find me," Paige added.

"And I dreamt my dad, found out about Buffy and didn't want to see either of us again."

They turned and saw Dawn at the door.

"That might explain this," Dawn said as she held up a letter before handing it to Paige. "Is that Leo's handwriting?"

Paige sighed. "It is. We'll orb there and find out if he wrote it. Regardless it appears our nightmares are coming true."

"Okay, despite the rat-like chill that just crawled up my spine, I'm going to say this very calmly: Hellllp ..." Xander said.

"So why is this happening?" Willow wondered.

"Billy," Paige said.

"Well, that explanation was shorter than usual," Xander said as he looked to Willow. "It's Billy." He looked at Giles and Paige. "Who's Billy?"

"He's in the hospital," Paige said. "He's in a coma. Dawn and Buffy have seen him before a few of their episodes."

"When I was taking a history test and couldn't remember the answers," Dawn said, "and when the spiders came out of Wendell's book, he was there too."

"Current I am under the suspicion he is a witch with an active power," Paige said. "He is using his power somehow to make our nightmares real."

"So you are saying he brought the nightmare world with him," Xander said. "Thanks a bunch, Billy.

"How could he do that?" Willow wondered.

"Things like that are easier when you live on a Hellmouth," Giles said.

"Well, we've got to stop it," Xander said.

Giles nodded in agreement. "Soon. Or everyone in Sunnydale will be facing their own worst nightmare."

"While Dawn and I are in San Francisco, we'll see what we can find in the Book," Paige said as she orbed out with Dawn.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy walked slowly along, reeling from what Hank had told her and Dawn. She understood why he wanted to distance himself from her. But why do that with Dawn? She felt terrible for her sister. Through a doorway she saw a figure. After a moment's hesitation she walked into the school kitchen. She looked about and saw Billy standing quietly at the other end of the room. "Are you Billy Palmer?" she asked.

"Why do you want to know?" he returned.

"Because I want to help you."

Billy nodded. "I'm Billy."

"Did something bad happen to you last week, after your Kiddie League Game?" Buffy asked.

"Something bad ... I don't remember."

Buffy nodded in understanding. The trauma of being placed in a coma, could have hid certain things from Billy's memory of that day. "Do you remember playing baseball?"

Billy nodded. "Uh-huh, I think so, yeah, I play second base."

"Are you _lucky nineteen_?" Buffy asked when she noticed how scared Billy became as she said lucky nineteen.

"That's what he calls me ..."

"Who?"

"The Ugly Man," Billy said. "He wants to kill me. He hurt that girl."

"Why does he want to kill you?" she wondered.

"He's ..." Billy said as he tried to get away from her.

Buffy smiled. "It's okay, you can tell me. He's what?"

"He's here!"

Buffy turned around in time to see The Ugly Man in all his hideous glory rising up behind her and swinging his massive club arm down hitting her hard in the head.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige and Dawn orbed into the foyer of the Manor as Paige called out, "Leo! Piper!"

Leo and Piper came down the stairs to find Dawn and Paige standing at its base.

"Paige?" Piper said instantly knowing something was going on.

Paige handed the letter to Leo. "Did you write this?"

Leo looked over the letter and frowned. "It is in my handwriting. But I didn't write this," he said as he handed the paper to Piper who studied it.

"What's going on?" Piper asked as she looked at her sister and Dawn.

"It seems in Sunnydale that everyone's nightmares are coming to life thanks to a boy name Billy who is in a coma," Dawn said. "Paige believes he might be a witch with the power of astral projection and that he is astral projecting out of his body."

"And bringing the nightmare world with him," Paige added.

"You need to find out for sure if he is a witch," Leo told them. "You might want to talk to the Elders."

Paige nodded and orbed out.

"What can I do?" Dawn asked.

"We'll look through the book and see if there is anything there about this," Piper said as she led Dawn upstairs.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The Ugly Man raised his club arm and swung at Buffy as she rolled out of the away, barely avoiding being hit as she scrambled to her feet. "Run, Billy!" she yelled.

Billy backed slowly away as The Ugly Man closed on Buffy again. She turned her attention to her opponent and gave him a good kick in the head, which absolutely did nothing to him. He smashed her in the leg knocking her to ground. He swung again as she blocked the blow with her arm. She realized it was a bad move as pain shot through her arm, making her fear that her arm might be broken. She staggered up and tried to run, but the blow to her leg had reduced her to hobbling.

The Ugly Man walked slowly behind her, gaining with horrible calm. She got to a building and threw the door open and limped inside. She put her back to the door, looking around frantically before finally sliding down on the ground in exhaustion and pain as The Ugly Man began pounding on the door from the outside.


	25. Chapter 25: Nightmares Part 3

**Chapter 25: Nightmares Part 3**

Paige paced on top of the tallest tower of the Golden Gate bridge as she waited for someone to orb in.

"Hello, Paige."

Paige turned to see Roland, and Elder, and Ashley, a Whitelighter, standing before her. "I need to …"

"We know why you are here," Roland interrupted. "The Cleaners have been busy trying to keep ahead of what is happening in Sunnydale. Are exposure on a big scale."

"Billy," Ashley said, "is my charge. I don't know how he ended up in a coma. But his power is running rampant now."

"And we have no idea how," Roland said. "Nothing like this should even be possible for someone able to astral project."

"Could it be, because of the Hellmouth?" Paige asked.

"It is possible, that it influenced his powers," Roland said with a nod. "The mystical energies that emanate from it, could have seeped into the boy, expanding his powers beyond what he is capable of."

"So how do we …" Paige started.

"We don't know," Ashley said.

"The Cleaners are so focused on the problem," Roland said. "That they can't do anything about the source. Which means you, Buffy, Dawn and their friends will have to deal with the source, with Billy." He looked to Ashley. "If he can be woken up …"

"I'm in agreement," Ashley said. "His powers should be bound while I try and teach him how to control them."

"We'll do it," Paige said. "I'll have Piper brew binding and unbinding potions. We'll give him the binding potion, and leave the unbinding potion with Joyce till you're ready to unbind them."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy stumbled out of one of the buildings of Sunnydale High as she continued to look for The Ugly Man. Not paying much attention she nearly collided into Billy. "Billy—" she said as she grabbed his arm.

"I'm sorry, I can't help it—" Billy said.

"Billy, who is he?" Buffy asked.

"He's The Ugly Man," he replied.

Buffy looked back the way she had come. "I can't fight him. I can fight anything but I can't fight him. He's too strong. We've got to find my friends. They can help."

"We have to hide," Billy argued.

"He'll find us," Buffy said.

Billy nodded. "Yes, but first we have to hide. That's how it happens. We hide, and then he comes."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Dawn sighed as she closed the Book. "I've looked through it, read your page on astral projection twice. There is nothing on someone with astral projection being able to make the nightmare world come to life."

Piper sighed and nodded just as Paige orbed in. "I have good and bad news," Paige said. "Good news is Billy is a witch. Bad news is they don't know how to fix it. They already have the Cleaners going after every nightmare that appears, but that's taking their time. They can't deal with Billy, so its up to us to deal with Billy."

"How?" Piper asked. "We've looked in the book and there is nothing about this."

"I don't know. I do know this. I met Billy's Whitelighter. If we can wake him, we can then bind his powers," Paige said. "She will then teach him control without the worry his powers getting out of control again. But the problem stems that he is in a coma, and as long as he is in a coma his power will remain uncontrolled."

"So we have to find out what is keeping him in a coma," Dawn said. "Since he is not only projecting the nightmares of everyone into the real world, he is projecting him as well. So we can ask him what happened. Right?"

"That is possible," Piper said. "You two return to Sunnydale. I'll work on a binding potion."

"Work on a binding potion and an unbinding potion," Paige said. "We'll leave the unbinding potion with Joyce. That way when his Whitelighter is ready she can go to Joyce and get the unbinding potion to use on him."

"Alright," Piper said as Paige moved beside Dawn and they orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy and Billy walked out a door of the school, looking around.

"I was sure this led to the library," Buffy said to herself as they approached a baseball diamond where several kids were playing.

Billy stopped as he looked to the field.

"They're just playing ... what is it, what's scaring you?" Buffy asked.

"Baseball... when you lose, it's bad," Billy said.

"Did you lose your Kiddie League game last week?" she wondered.

Billy nodded. "It was my fault."

"Why was it your fault?"

"I should have caught the ball, I missed it," he told her.

"You missed a ball and the whole game's your fault?" Buffy asked confused. "What, you were the only one playing, there weren't eight other kids on your team?"

Billy looked up at Buffy. "He said it was my fault."

"Who said?" Buffy asked, but got no response from Billy. "Did he ... hurt you after the game?"

Billy backed away from the field. "Can't we go another way to see your friends?"

Buffy nodded. "Sure we can. We can go around behind the cafeteria ..." She led him in another direction, away from the field and saw The Ugly Man about thirty feet in front of them. "... bad idea. Come on!"

They took off running toward a hedge as The Ugly Man lumbered after them. Buffy looked back at him as Billy grabbed her hand pulling her through the hedge and into a cemetery.

"What just happened?" Buffy asked as she noticed they were now in a cemetery and that it was suddenly night.

"Is this where your friends are?" Billy asked.

"No. It's not," Buffy said as she looked around. She then peered back through the hedge, obviously spooked. "Well, I don't see the Ugly Guy ... I also don't see where the sun and the rest of the world went ..."

"Hey, look at this ..." Billy said as he stood next to a freshly dug grave. "Guess they're gonna bury somebody."

Buffy nodded not liking the look of this.

"I wonder who died ..." he said.

"Nobody died ..."

The Master appeared out of the shadows as Billy instinctively backed away from him.

Buffy turned, slowly, true dread creeping onto her face.

"What's the fun in burying someone who's already dead?" The Master asked.

"You ..." Buffy said.

The Master smiled. "So this is the Slayer. You're prettier than the last one."

"This isn't real ... you can't be free," she said.

The Master laughed and shook his head. "You still don't understand, do you? I am free because you fear it. Because you fear it, the world is crumbling. You nightmares are made flesh. You have Billy to thank for that."

Buffy turned to look at Billy, but found him gone. She turned back to find The Master inches from her. It's all too much for her, as her fears paralyze her, bringing her almost to tears. "This is a dream ..." she said.

"A dream is a wish your heart makes," The Master said as he grabbed her throat, lightning quick. "This is the real world." She grabbed his arm but she couldn't budge it as she began to choke. "Come on, Slayer ... What are you afraid of?" He hurled her into the open grave.

Buffy landed in the coffin and the lid slammed shut.

The Master grabbed a shovel and started shoveling dirt into the grave. "How about being buried alive?" he asked with a laugh.

Buffy screamed and pounded on the coffin as she heard the sound of the dirt burying her alive. "Nooooo! PAIGE!"

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the school a door opened as Willow, dressed in a kimono stumbled out shutting the door behind her. She moved down the hall in a daze as she passed the basement access door. It flew open as Xander poured out, he slammed it shut as he ran toward her. "Did you find Buffy?" he asked.

"I had to sing. Very bad. To sing," Willow told him.

"Willow, come on. We gotta find the others," Xander said.

"What happened to you?" Willow asked as she shook of her stupor.

"Remember my sixth birthday party?" he wondered.

Willow nodded. "Oh yeah! When the clown chased you and you got so scared that you ... had ... oh."

Suddenly a clown bursts out of the basement door, grinning with murderous intent as he makes a beeline for Xander.

Xander and Willow turn to run and bump right into Giles! A brief shriek and they start dragging him off.

"No sign of Buffy?" Giles asked.

"Come on!" Xander said as they reached the end of the hall. Xander looked over his shoulder but saw that the clown was gaining. He turned and smashed the clown in the face, knocking it on its ass. "You were a lousy clown! And your balloon animals were crap! Everyone can make the giraffe."

Willow drags him off and the three pour out the quad. "I feel good, I feel liberated," Xander said.

"You seem to be the only one," Giles said as Paige and Dawn orbed in.

"We didn't learn much," Paige told them. "We have to wake up Billy. Once he is awake then we can bind his powers and this will all stop."

"The question is how do we wake him?" Willow wondered.

"That's the million dollar question," Dawn said. "We need to find Buffy, though."

"Agreed," Paige said.

"Paige, can you take us to her?" Giles asked.

Paige tried to sense Buffy and frowned. "I can't sense her."

"Concentrate Paige," Dawn said. "It's part of the same nightmare where you and Buffy couldn't see each other."

"Excuse me," Willow said before Paige could try sensing Buffy again, "when did they put a cemetery in across the street?"

Everyone followed her gaze to the cemetery across the street.

"And when did they make it night over there?" Xander asked as they all walked into the cemetery, increasingly concerned. "Okay, whose nightmare is this?"

Giles then noticed a headstone and he pales considerably. "It's mine."

Paige, Dawn, Xander and Willow followed his gaze to the headstone and read: BUFFY SUMMERS REST IN PEACE

"It may be yours," Paige said. "But it is also mine. I didn't tell anyone this. But the Elders told me last week that the seer that told them of mine and Buffy's destinies. That she was destined to die."

"That's why they steered you two together," Giles said. "The reason they made you each other's rewards? Expected you to fall in love? So you could prevent this death?"

"Yes," Paige said with a nod. "They knew if I loved her, that I would stand by her side through all of it. They were right about all of it. I did fall in love with her and now …" she knelt down in front of the grave as tears came to her eyes. "I failed you, Buffy." She laid a hand on the ground. "Forgive me."

Suddenly a hand shot out of the grave and grabbed Paige's wrist as everyone screamed. Startled Paige orbed out and back in as they all backed away from the hand.

The hand pulled the rest of the person out of the grave and they realize it was Buffy, but with one difference, she was a vampire.

"Buffy?" Dawn asked.

"I thought I was dead ..." Buffy said.

"Buffy, your face ..." Willow said.

Buffy brought her hands to her face and felt the vampiric features. "Oh, God, no ... no ..."

Paige reached out a sympathetic hand. Buffy snarled at her and turned away. "Don't look at me ..."

"This was your nightmare wasn't it," Paige said softly, "of dying and becoming a vampire." Buffy nodded. "Oh, Buffy." She touched Buffy's cheek and pulled Buffy around to face her. She planted her lips on Buffy's as she kissed Buffy passionately. "We can fix this. We have to wake Billy. Once that is done everything should return to normal."

Buffy nodded. "He's afraid."

"Yes, he is," Paige agreed. "And that is what is holding him in the coma. And with the added effect of the Hellmouth is what is causing the nightmare world to come into ours. We wake him, the Cleaners can do their jobs and erase all of this. And what they don't erase will return to normal on its own."

"We'd better hurry then. I'm getting hungry," Buffy told them as they headed for the cemetery's exit.

"That was a joke, right?" Xander asked.

Buffy looked to Paige. "I tried calling for you."

"I didn't hear you, I couldn't even sense you," Paige said with a sigh. "For me it's part of the same nightmare as the one where we couldn't see each other. Losing you is my nightmare, Buffy, and I don't want to lose you, ever."

Buffy smiled at Paige.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy, Paige, Dawn, Giles, Willow and Xander made their way down the hospital corridor toward Billy's room passing several animated corpses.

"Doctor!" Giles said as they passed Billy's doctor. "Is the boy Billy still –"

The doctor stared blankly at Giles, who stopped and saw that the doctor's hands were useless, twisted inhuman claws. Giles turned and followed the others down the hall and into Billy's room.

Giles went over to Billy and looked down at him.

"What now?" Dawn wondered.

"Um ..." Giles said as he leaned down and said into Billy's ear. "Billy?"

Astral Billy looked over the bed next to Giles. "That won't work."

"Billy! Billy you've got to wake up," Paige said as she moved next to Giles.

Astral Billy looked toward Buffy. "No. I told her. I have to hide."

"Why? From what?" Giles asked.

"From him," Buffy said having spotted The Ugly Man coming down the hospital corridor.

"What do we do?" Giles asked.

"I think I know," Buffy said.

"Whatever it is, it better be soon," Willow said looking out the window, where she saw giant insects flying toward town.

Paige stepped up beside Buffy. "Be careful," she said as she gave Buffy a quick peck.

"I intend to," Buffy said as she stepped out into the hall to face off with The Ugly Man. "I'm glad you showed up. You see, I'm having a really bad day."

"Lucky nineteen," The Ugly Man said.

"Scary," Buffy said with a smirk. "I'll tell you something though. There's a lot scarier things out there than you. And now, I'm one of them."

The Ugly Man actually hesitated as Buffy leapt at him, snarling. She took him to the ground in a second, landing on top of him as she punched him repeatedly.

He managed to get a hit in as he knocked Buffy off. As they both come up, she kicked him hard in the gut.

The Ugly Man swung is club arm at her and she grabbed it in mid swing and broke it in two over her knee causing him to stagger back away from Buffy.

Buffy finishes him off quickly with a couple of well-placed punches and kicks. The Ugly Man hit the wall and slid to the floor.

"Is he dead?" Astral Billy asked.

Buffy walked over to The Ugly Man. "Come here, Billy."

"But I don't –"

Dawn smiled as she moved next to her sister, getting what Buffy was doing. Billy had to unmask The Ugly Man himself for him to wake up. "No more hiding," she told him.

"What's he doing?" Willow asked not getting it.

"I get it ..." Xander said as he realized what Dawn had.

Astral Billy walked up next to the Summers sisters.

"You're got to do the rest," Paige said as she placed an arm around Buffy.

Astral Billy looked from the Summers sisters and Paige to The Ugly Man. He leaned in, grabbed the edge of The Ugly Man's hideous face and pulled!

For a moment no one could see a thing, when their vision cleared things had reverted to normal. Buffy was no longer a vampire and Willow and Xander were once again in their street clothes.

As they all look at each other they hear Billy's machines start pinging and they turn to see that Billy was finally waking up.

"Hey, he's waking up," Xander said.

"I had the strangest dream," Billy said, "and you were in it, and you and you ... who are you people?"

Giles smiled. "Best get a doctor," he said as he moved toward the door. He is greeted by Billy's Kiddie League Coach.

"Oh, Billy's got company. I'm his Kiddie League coach. I come by every day, just hoping against hope he might wake up... He's my _lucky nineteen_. How is he?" the coach said.

Everyone realized that the coach was what Billy had been hiding from. And the nightmare Ugly Man was meant to represent him.

"Awake ..." Paige said as she moved aside so the coach could see Billy.

"What?" the coach said somewhat thrown by the fact. He looked at the bed where Billy was now siting up, staring at him.

"You blamed him for losing the game. So you caught up with him afterwards," Buffy said.

"What are you talkin' about?" the coach asked.

"You said it was my fault we lost –" Billy said as the coach bolted for the door. Xander and Giles grabbed him before he could make a run for it, "— wasn't my fault, there's eight other players on the team, you know?"

Buffy looked to Billy and smiled. "Nice goin'."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Later that day Dawn, Paige, Xander, Willow and Buffy move away from the main building as school let out.

"Hard to believe a Kiddie League Coach would do something like that," Buffy said with a sigh.

"Not if you played Kiddie League," Xander told her. "I'm surprised it wasn't one of the Parents."

"I'm just glad he's behind bars where he belongs," Willow said.

Dawn smiled at Xander. "That was kinda heroic, Xander, grabbing him and all."

"Hey, I just did what anybody would have ... if people want to label it heroic –"

Dawn noticed Hank approaching and nudged Buffy who nodded. "Have a killer weekend, guys," she said as she and Buffy ran over to Hank who embraced them. "Hi sweethearts," he said. "I'm got about a million things planned for us this weekend. It's going to mean spending a lot of quality time and money together."

"Before we do that," Buffy said as the three of them stopped and Hank looked at her. "There is something I need to tell you. Everyone said we should wait till after I turned eighteen, so you wouldn't cut off my child support payments for mom. But you have a right to know, I'm not your daughter."

Hank let out a sigh as he looked at Buffy and Dawn. "I know. I kind of guessed it when you were little, you don't really share any of my features. But it was last year when you had burned down the gym to kill those vampires when I finally found out for sure."

"You know Buffy was telling the truth about the vampires," Dawn said shocked.

"I didn't know when I had you committed, Buffy," he looked at his eldest daughter, "during the week you were in there I got a visit from Leo Wyatt, he told me he was your birth father. That neither you nor your mother knew that fact to protect the both of you, that his bosses had a strict rule about a Whitelighter and their Charge being in a relationship let alone having a child together. Showed me what he was and explained to me that what you had said was true. I rushed back to the institution immediately after he left, but by that time you had already recanted your story about fighting vampires."

"So?" Buffy wondered.

"You may not be my daughter, biologically, Buffy," Hank said. "But you are my daughter; I raised you, cared for you. Nothing will ever take that away."

Buffy smiled as both she and Dawn hugged Hank.


	26. Chapter 26: Prophecy Girl Part 1

**Chapter 26: Prophecy Girl Part 1**

Buffy flew through the air and landed on her back hard as a vampire looked down at her smiling. She glared up at him as she did a backwards roll and comes up on her feet. She reached behind her back and pulled out a stake. The vampire snarled and hesitated just long enough for Buffy to slam the stake home.

As the vampire crumbled to dust she wiped her brow and smiled. "Three in one night. Paige I hope will be proud."

In the Sunnydale High Library Giles is looking through a book he had specially shipped from the Watcher's Council in England. It was a book of Slayer prophecies. As he poured himself a cup of tea he read a passage from the book, "Ho korias phanaytie toutay tay nuktee. The Master shall rise ... Yes, this is it. The Master shall rise, and the Slayer ..." He stopped as realization dawned on him that Paige had been right, that Buffy was destined to die. "My God."

He grabbed another volume from his desk, rifled through it to a particular passage and compared them. He set the book down and reached for the phone and dialed.

 _"Halliwell Residence, Phoebe speaking."_

"This is Rupert Giles, I need to speak to Paige Matthews, it's urgent," Giles said. "Tell her it's about Buffy. Tell her the Elders were right."

At the Halliwell Manor in San Francisco Phoebe frowned as she sat the phone down. "Piper! Leo! Paige!" she yelled. A second later the three of them came down the stairs. "It's Rupert on the phone. He told me to tell you Paige it was urgent, it's about Buffy and that the Elders were right."

Paige picked up the phone. "I'll be there first thing in the morning, we'll figure out how to prevent it," she said before hanging up the phone and turned to her family. "I hadn't told anyone this till the day Billy's powers started bringing everyone's nightmares to life. Then I told Giles, Dawn, Willow and Xander when we found a grave with Buffy's name. My nightmare has been that Buffy would be taken away from me."

"Taken away from you?" Piper asked wondering what her baby sister meant.

Paige looked sheepish at Piper. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you this before, Piper. I didn't know how. Buffy is …"

"Buffy is Paige's reward for everything Paige has gone through and everything Buffy will go through. They were destined to fall in love," Leo explained.

"But Buffy is …" Piper said shaking her head.

"I know, Piper," Paige said. "She's ten years younger than me. But you don't help who you fall in love with, you should know that."

Piper looked to Leo and nodded, she knew Paige was right about that. She looked back at Paige. "Still, Paige …"

"We don't do anything, Piper," Paige said. "We've gone on a couple dates and even kissed. But nothing beyond that. Nothing that would land me in jail, not till she's eighteen. Leo and Joyce both approve and they were the ones I needed before I could even consider dating Buffy."

"You knew?" Piper asked her husband.

"I knew," Leo said. "For a couple weeks. I didn't tell you because Paige wanted to figure out how to do that herself. She knew you would be the one that would have a problem with it. Joyce and I both understand the age differences. I maybe about your age Piper physically, but you have to remember I am older than you by several decades."

Piper nodded in understanding. She looked to Paige. "If you are truly in love with her and she you then I am happy for you. Now what about this business about the Elders being right?"

"You remember I went to talk to the Elders while Buffy was putting the sorrows back?" Paige asked as Piper nodded. "I was told that Kyle hadn't told me everything about what the seer had seen. That the seer had seen one other thing and that was why the Elders approached the Angels of Destiny. Buffy is destined to die. They hoped that by steering us together, hoping that we would fall in love. That we could prevent it. Giles must have found the prophecy in his books."

In Sunnydale a massive earthquake is shaking the ground as Buffy looked around more wary than afraid, trying to keep her footing.

In the library Giles watched from the safety of his doorway as a crack ran across the library all the way to the stacks.

The next morning Paige orbed in and looked at the devastation that the earthquake had wrought the night before. "Giles?" she said.

"In here, Paige," Giles called from his office.

"What happened?" Paige asked as she stepped into the office and motioned behind her.

"Earthquake," he said. "I've been up all night referencing and cross referencing what I've found. What the Elders told you was correct."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy entered the library and looked around. "Giles? Paige?" she called out. She then heard voices coming from Giles office and moved toward the office door. She saw that Giles and Paige were standing over a book.

"It's fairly straight forward," Giles said to Paige oblivious to the fact that Buffy was behind him. "It says that Buffy will face the Master. And she will die."

Buffy stared at Paige and Giles for a moment as she absorbed the information she had just head and then she began to laugh.

Paige and Giles turn and saw Buffy standing in the doorway.

Buffy turned and walked into the middle of the library as Paige and Giles follow her out of the office. She turned back to them. "So that's it, huh? My time is up. I remember the drill. _One Slayer dies, the next is called_. I wonder who the next one is," she said as she looked to Giles. "Are you gonna train her? Or will they send someone else." She looked to Paige. "Will she be a witch, like me? Will you train her in her powers? Will you fall for her like you did me?"

"Buffy, I ..." Paige started unsure of what to say.

"Does it say how he's gonna kill me?" Buffy asked looking back at Giles. "Do you think it'll hurt?" She sunk into a chair.

Paige walked over to Buffy and knelt down as she raised a hand to caress Buffy's face.

Buffy pushed the hand away violently. "Don't touch me!" she said near tears. She looked at Paige and Giles with anger. "Were you guys even gonna tell me?"

Paige sighed . "Yes. Once we figured out how to prevent it," she said. "I didn't want to lay this burden on you, Buffy."

Buffy rose out of the chair. "Oh, I've got a way of preventing it. I quit."

"It's not that simple," Paige said shaking her head.

"I'm making it that simple! I quit! I resign! I'm fired! Someone else can stop the Master from taking over," Buffy said.

Giles shook his head. "I don't know that anyone else can. The signs all indicate –"

"The signs?" Buffy yelled as she took one of Giles' books and hurled it across the room—almost at Giles himself. "Read me the signs!" She threw another. "Tell me my fortune! You're so useful, sitting around with your books. You're really a lot of help."

Giles sighed. "I don't suppose I am."

"I know this is hard ..." Paige said.

"What do you know about it? You're never gonna die,' Buffy said.

"You think I want anything to happen to you?" Paige yelled. "Do you think I could stand it? Do you remember my nightmare? My losing you is my nightmare. I can't lose you Buffy, I won't. We just have to figure out a way –"

"I already have. I quit, remember?" Buffy said. "Pay attention."

"Buffy, if the Master rises –" Giles tried to explain.

"I don't care!" Buffy said finally quieting down. "I don't care. I'm sixteen years old. And I don't want to die." She closed her hand around the cross Paige gave her. Yanked the chain off her neck and let it drop to the table. She then turned and walked out of the library.

"Buffy!" Paige shouted as she moved to follow Buffy. She felt Giles arm on hers and she glared at him till he removed it.

"Paige," Giles said, "as much as I want to go after her. She needs time. She loves you, and you her. She just needs to remember that."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

As Buffy walked outside lost in thought she heard on the periphery of her awareness someone yell, "Check it out! It's raining stones!"

Buffy sighed as she waited under an eave for the stones to stop coming down. "Figures," she said to herself.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige orbed into the manor holding the necklace she had given Buffy. "Phoebe!" she yelled.

Phoebe, Piper and Leo came down the stairs a few seconds later. "What?" Phoebe asked.

"I need you to get a premonition," Paige said.

"Premonition?" Piper said. "You know …"

"Actually, Piper," Phoebe said with a sigh. "I did get my premonition power back. I had wanted to make sure I didn't fall back on them like I was when the tribunal took them away."

"While you should have said something when you got them back," Piper said. "I can understand why you didn't."

"What am I trying to get a premonition of?" Phoebe asked.

"Remember I told you about Buffy and the Elders saying she was destined to die," Paige said as she held up the necklace. "I need you to try and get a premonition. I need to know."

Phoebe nodded as she took the necklace and let out a gasp as she received a premonition. In it she saw …

 _A small boy leading Buffy away from the High School._

"I see a small boy leading Buffy away from the high school," Phoebe said. "It's night. It wouldn't surprise me if the boy was a vampire."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

That evening after dinner Dawn walked into Buffy's bedroom and found her sister going through old pictures and letters. "Buffy?" she asked noticing the tears in her sister's eyes. "Is everything alright?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Buffy replied.

"Did Paige do something?"

Buffy laughed bitterly. "Oh she did something alright."

"What?" Dawn asked but got no reply. She turned and found Joyce standing in the doorway.

"Hey, honey. You all right?" Joyce asked.

"I guess," Buffy replied.

"You're probably just full from that bite of dinner you nearly had. Feel like telling me what's on your mind?"

Buffy contemplated telling Joyce and Dawn but then … "Mom, let's go away just the three of us."

"What?" Dawn and Joyce asked.

"Anywhere. Just for a while. A weekend."

"Honey ..." Joyce said.

Buffy rose off the bed. "It'll be great. Just the three of us. A mother/daughter thing. We'll talk about all that embarrassing stuff you like to bring up."

"You know the gallery's open on weekends," Joyce told her.

"Mom ... Dawn … please?" Buffy said.

"Isn't the prom tomorrow night? Or Spring Fling, or whatever they're calling it?" Joyce asked.

"It is," Dawn said.

"Is Paige taking you, Buffy?" Joyce wondered.

Buffy sighed and then shook her head.

"Well, I suppose then this isn't the best time for this, but ..." Joyce said as she moved to the closet and swung open the closet door. Hanging up inside is a genuinely stunning gown. Buffy stared at it. "I saw you eying it at the store. I figured ..."

Buff moved to the closet. "Mom, we can't afford this."

"The way you've been eating?" Joyce asked. "We can afford it. In fact we can afford two, there is one in your room also, Dawn."

"It's beautiful," Dawn and Buffy said.

"I think you should wear them," Joyce said. "To the dance."

"I can't go to the dance," Buffy said with a sigh.

"Says who? Is it written somewhere?" Joyce asked. "You should do what you want. Homecoming, my freshman year at college, I didn't have a date. So I got dressed up and I went anyway."

"Was it awful?" Dawn asked.

Joyce nodded. "It was awful. For about an hour."

"Then what happened?" Buffy wondered.

"I met your father, Dawn," Joyce said with a glance at her youngest.

"You can call him ours," Dawn said. "Buffy told him. He already knew. Seems Leo paid him a visit while Buffy was in the clinic. And he told Buffy he still considered her, his daughter."

"Oh," Joyce said with a smile.

"And dad didn't have a date either?" Buffy wondered.

"He did, and that's a much funnier story that you both will not get to hear. But it was a beautiful night."

Buffy turned back to the dress, running her hand along it. "You had your whole life ahead of you."

Joyce nodded as she remembered the night. "Yeah."

"That must be nice," Buffy said quietly.

The next day Dawn smiled as she and Buffy stood in front of the mirror, both of them wearing the gowns their mother had bought.

"Buffy! Dawn," Joyce called out as she entered Buffy's room. "There's something on the news. Willow."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Willow sat on her bed, her knees drawn up, freaked out about what happened. Buffy and Dawn didn't bother changing before rushing over, they just threw on a jacket over the gowns.

"I've seen so much, I thought I could take anything. But ... This was ... this was different, it ..." Willow said.

"It's okay ..." Buffy told her.

"I'm trying to think how to say it,' Willow said. "To explain it so you both understand."

"Willow, as long as you're okay –" Dawn said.

"I'm not okay. I can't imagine what it's like to be okay. I knew those guys. I go to that room every day. And when I walked in there, it was ... It wasn't our world anymore. They made it theirs. And they had fun. What are we gonna do?"

"What we have to," Buffy said as she stood up, deciding what she had to do. "You'll stay in tonight, all right?"

Willow nodded. "I tried to reach Xander, but he's not picking up. I'll go by his house tomorrow. We'll get together and figure out what to do."

"Tomorrow," Buffy said as she and Dawn head for the door.

"Buffy … Dawn," Willow said as the sisters turned to look at her. "I like your dresses."

Buffy looked down at the dress then looked up at Willow. "Take care," she said as she and Dawn left the house. She looked to her sister. "I need you to do something for me. Pack, your stuff, pack mom's. Get out of town, whatever happens to me. I need you to do this. Bind your powers, stay out of this life. I don't want it to be the death of you to. Promise me."

Dawn looked at Buffy concerned. "I promise. But why …"

"Dawn, home!" Buffy said as she waved her hand and Dawn orbed out. And then she too orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Giles had decided to explain everything to Joyce after she had called to tell him she was worried about Buffy.

"So this vampire, the master, tried to open the Hellmouth, and he got stuck in it," Joyce said. "And now all the signs are reading that he's gonna get out. Which opens the Hellmouth, which brings the demons, which ends the world. No wonder Buffy wanted to get away for the weekend."

"Precisely," Giles said as loaded arrows into a crossbow. "Have you heard from Paige?"

"She called from San Francisco," Joyce said. "Said that she and her sisters were trying to find a way to save Buffy. Told me to tell you that Buffy is led from the school by a little boy."

Giles nodded. "Aurelius wrote of the Anointed one, _the Slayer will not know him, and he will lead her into Hell_. If the vampire Buffy killed was not in fact the Anointed, it may well be a child."

"Well then we should warn her," Joyce said.

"I don't plan to involve her at all," Giles said.

"What do you mean?" Joyce asked a frown creasing her face.

"Buffy isn't going to face the Master," Giles said. "I am."

"No you're not," came Buffy's voice from the door

Joyce and Giles turned and looked at her as she walked toward them a newfound determination in her face.

"So I'm looking for a kid, huh?" Buffy asked. "He'll take me to the Master."

"Buffy, I'm not sending you out there to die. You were right," Giles said. "I've waded about in these old books for so long I've forgotten what the real world is like. It's time I found out."

"You're still not going up against the Master," Buffy sad.

"I've made up my mind."

"So have I."

"Well, I made up mine first," Giles told her. "And I'm older and wiser and just do as I say for once. All right?"

"It's not how it goes. I'm the Slayer," Buffy said.

"I don't care what the books or the Elders say," Giles said. "I defy prophecy. I'm going. Nothing you can say will change my mind."

"I know,' Buffy said as she hit Giles knocking him out.

"Buffy!" Joyce said shocked.

Buffy moved to her mother and hugged her before stepping away. "Now you know. Mom, please promise me. You will take Dawn and leave, bind yours and her powers again. You already lost your friend to that demon, and now you are losing me to a vampire. I don't want you to lose anyone else. Please, promise me."

"I … I promise," Joyce said hesitantly.

"When he wakes up, tell him ... I don't know. Think of something cool, tell him I said it," Buffy said as picked up the crossbow and left.

As Buffy exited the school she found a kid standing waiting for her.

"Help me ..." he said.

"It's all right. I know who you are," Buffy said as she walked over to him. "Let's go." He reaches up and took her hand before leading her away from the school.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I had originally intended for Prophecy Girl to follow the final two episode of Charmed season 7. As I looked at it, I found it wouldn't really work that way. Mainly cause of Paige, Piper and Phoebe faking their own deaths. So the last two episode of Charmed season 7, and the first few episodes of Charmed season 8 will take place after "When She was Bad" the BTVS season 2 premiere. And instead of Buffy being with Hank for the entire summer. I will have her only with him for a month. Then the last episodes of Charmed season 7 and the Season 8 episodes 1,2 ,3 and 5 before returning to BTVS.

Also you all will notice (especially in part two) that not everyone gets a whole lot of screen time. It was unavoidable, to tell the truth I am not too happy with the way Prophecy Girl turned out, though it did end as I wanted. In Canon charmed Paige got her healing power when she healed Henry. I wanted that to happen here. What I don't really like is the pacing.


	27. Chapter 27: Prophecy Girl Part 2

**Chapter 27: Prophecy Girl Part 2**

Dawn, Xander and Willow had joined Giles and Joyce in the library and had been brought up to speed.

"She WHAT?" Xander asked.

"I knew it. I told you something was going on with her," Willow said.

"And she knew about this prophecy? Dawn asked.

"Oh, MAN! What do we do?" Xander added.

"We stay calm, first thing," Giles said.

"Calm!?" Xander said.

"I think he's right," Willow said just as Paige orbed in with Piper and Phoebe.

"Where's Buffy?" Paige asked. "We think we …" She noticed the look on everyone's faces. "She went after him."

"Yes," Giles said and Paige orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The boy led Buffy slowly through the darkness. They reach a part of the tunnel that veered off from the electrical tunnels—an older, roughhewn opening that headed even further down.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Dawn, Xander and Willow looked at the door, worrying about Paige and Buffy. Giles, Joyce, Piper and Phoebe were trying to work out what to do. "The Master is as old as any vampire on record," he said. "There's no way to tell how powerful he will be if he reaches the surface."

"Okay. Here's my question. The Hellmouth opens," Phoebe said. "Where? If he's underground, and it's right where he is, where's it gonna open?"

"Good point. Check through the Black Chronicles, and Piper can you look through the town histories please? Search for any common denominators. Location of incidents and such."

Piper nodded. "On it," she said as she moved to the computer. She glanced at Dawn, Willow and Xander and sighed. She hoped Paige got to Buffy in time.

"How big is a Hellmouth, anyway?" Joyce wondered.

Giles shrugged. "I don't know. Hellmouth-sized."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The boy led Buffy down the tunnel toward the church. He stopped, indicating she had to go on alone. She nodded and she walked down into the church.

"Welcome," said the Master from somewhere in the darkness.

"Thanks for having me," Buffy said as she looked around. "You really ought to talk to your contractor. I think you've got some water damage."

"Ah, good. The feeble banter portion of the fight. Darling, why don't we just cut to the –" the Master said as she spun and fired her crossbow. He caught the arrow an inch from his heart. "Nice shot." She reloaded the crossbow, never taking her eyes off him. "You're not going to kill me with that thing."

"Don't be so sure," Buffy said.

"You still don't understand your part in all this, do you? You're not the hunter. You're the lamb," the Master said as he disappeared into the shadows.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"I've got nothing specific in here," Phoebe said.

"Nor I," Giles said as he thought everything over. "The Vampires have been gathering. They know he's coming. They will be his army."

"You think they'll gather at the Hellmouth?" Joyce wondered.

"Well, the last time the Master tried to rise was the Harvest," Dawn said. "He sent a bunch of vampires to get him fresh blood. Maybe this is the same."

"Where did that happen?" Piper asked.

"The Bronze," Giles answered.

"The prom," Willow, Dawn and Xander said simultaneously as everyone looked at each other.

"We've got to warn them," Piper said.

"Joyce, you take Willow, Dawn and Xander," Giles said. "Piper, Phoebe and I will concentrate on Demon killing."

Joyce nodded as she led Willow, Dawn and Xander out of the library.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy walked slowly about, crossbow at the ready. "For somebody all-powerful, you sure do like to hide."

His voice came from the other side of the room. She spun, standing in front of a pool of water. "I'm waiting for you. I want this moment to last."

"I don't," Buffy said as he grabbed her from behind and knocked the crossbow to the ground.

"I understand," he said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Joyce, Dawn, Willow and Xander rounded a corner heading for her car.

"What if they get to the Bronze before us?" Willow wondered.

"Don't worry about it," Xander said having noticed something.

"Don't worry?" Dawn asked as she bumped into her mother. "Why not?"

Joyce saw what Xander had a score of vampires heading their way. "Because they're not going to the Bronze." She looked toward her car and frowned. They were cut off from it.

Willow turned to look back the way they came and saw more vampires, they were surrounded.

"What do we do now?" Xander asked.

"I vote panic," Willow said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The Master held Buffy by her arms as she tried to break free. "You tried. It was noble of you. You heard the prophecy that I was going to break free and you came to stop me. But prophecies are tricky creatures. They didn't tell you everything. You're the one that frees me. If you hadn't come, I couldn't go. Think about that."

He buried his fangs in her neck as Buffy cried out. He shook with the power he drew from her. Her cry becomes a mewl, the expression of pain and horror freezing in her eyes as he reared his head back. "God, the power!"

Buffy's eyes slowly close as she sagged in his grasp.

"By the way ..." he said as he looked toward Buffy and let her fall to her knees before falling face-down into the pool of water. "I like your dress."

He walked to the entrance to the church and shoved his hand through the mystical barrier that had held him for so long and as the energy crackled around him he walked upward into the tunnels above.

Just at the moment Paige orbed in to find Buffy lying in the water face down. She pulled Buffy out of the pool and turned her over. She checked for a pulse and held her ear to Buffy's mouth. "No," she sobbed as she found no heartbeat and no sounds of breath.

Paige laid Buffy on the ground away from the pool of water and began to do chest compressions. And then suddenly her hands began to glow. "Please," she said as she brushed a hand through Buffy's hair. "I love you. Come back to me."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Joyce, Xander, Dawn and Willow backed slowly away from the approaching vampires with nowhere to go.

"Mom!" Dawn said. "Can you make us all invisible?"

"Yes," Joyce said. "But they can still smell us and hear us. It would be futile."

"Why are they coming here?" Xander wondered.

"Not caring ..." Willow told him. Just then a car screeched to a halt next to them.

"Get in," yelled Cordelia.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Suddenly Buffy's eyes shot open as she sucked in a huge gasp of air before a coughing fit took her.

"Buffy?" Paige said softly.

"Paige ...?" Buffy whispered.

Paige smiled as she leaned down and kissed Buffy. "I thought I had lost you."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Xander got into the passenger seat of Cordelia's car and gave his girlfriend a quick kiss. "Your timing couldn't have been better," he said as Joyce, Willow and Dawn crowded into the back seat.

"I was getting ready to head home when suddenly these things were coming at me—I tried to get out but the gate is locked. Who are these guys?" Cordelia asked. A leering vampire popped down right next to her window and everyone screamed. "What do we do?"

"We've got to get to the library," Dawn said.

"Library. Right. Great,' Cordelia said throwing her car into reverse, backing up and aiming for the doors before throwing the gear into first and hitting the accelerator. They race for the entrance to the building as the vampires jump out of the way.

"Of course, we generally walk there ..." Willow said as they crashed through the doors and charged down the hall, a vampire clinging for dear life to the hood.

Suddenly Cordelia slammed on the breaks just outside the door to the library sending the vampire flying.

Everyone piles out of the car and into the library. Cordelia the last one in, closed the door behind her as a vampire is inches from grabbing her.

Giles, Piper and Phoebe rushed up to them as they barricade the door.

"What's going on?" Giles asked.

"Guess!" Joyce said.

A vampire smashed the round window reaching for them. Willow grabbed the library sign and hit the vampire's arm till he pulled it back through the window.

"Why are they coming here?" Phoebe wondered.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Easy ..." Paige said as she helped Buffy to sit up.

"The Master ..." Buffy asked.

"He's gone," Paige said as Buffy stood up. "Buffy, you're still weak."

"No, I'm not. I feel strong. I feel ... different," Buffy said as she looked at the entrance to the church. "Let's go." She started out, strength in her stride. After a moment, Paige followed.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The group barricaded when they hear a crash in the back of the library.

"They're coming in through the stacks!" Giles yelled.

"Come on!" Piper said to Joyce and Phoebe. They ran into the stacks.

"The bookshelves!" Joyce suggested and they hoisted one in front of the door at the back of the stacks blocking anyone from entering.

As Phoebe held the bookcase firm a tendril crept toward her just as another crash came from Giles office.

"My office," Giles said as he and Willow ran toward it leaving Cordelia at the door by herself just as an arm grabbed her.

"OWWW! Somebody HELP!" Cordelia yelled.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy strode toward the school as Paige flanked her.

"How do you know where he went?" Paige wondered.

"I know," Buffy replied just a vampire stepped in front of them. "Oh, look. A bad guy." She hit the vampire sending him flying backwards.

They head into the building and toward a door marked _Roof Access_. They notice that the lock had been broken and the door was ajar. She looked to Paige. "Paige, I need you keep the vampires off me."

"I'd …" Paige started to object.

"I'm not dying again, once was enough," Buffy said as Paige nodded. She turned and headed up the stairs.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Giles and Willow ran into his office just as a Vampire is broke the window. Giles grabbed a stake and drives it home, then he and Willow started moving a bookcase in the way of the window.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Cordelia beat on the hand holding her, finally biting it till it let go. "See how YOU like it," she said.

Piper and Phoebe continued to hold the bookcase.

"This won't keep them out for long!" Phoebe said just as the tendril wrapped itself around her leg.

Piper raised her hand and using her exploding power freed Phoebe. "Rupert!" she yelled.

And then the owner of the tentacle burst through the floor. It was grotesque, twisted flesh dripping with slime, dull, glassy eyes and mewling, razor-toothed mouths opening incongruously along its length.

Giles ran out of his office and stopped. "The Hellmouth ..."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The Master looked down through a skylight from his perch on roof at the demon. "Yes ... come forth. My child ... Come into my world."

"I don't think it's yours just yet."

The Master turned to face Buffy, he can't believe she is still alive. "You ... are dead."

Buffy smiled. "I may be dead, but I'm still pretty. Which is more than I can say for you."

"You were destined to die! It was written."

Buffy shrugged. "What can I say? I flunked the written."

He reached out suddenly, clutching the air as though it were her. He locked eyes with her and stared at her mesmerizingly. "Come here."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Giles ran to the book cage, to the weapons cabinet he emerged with a battle axe. He ran to Piper and Phoebe just as a tentacle came at them again. He struck the tentacle as black ichor gushed from it and every mouth on the creature screamed in pain.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Against her will, Buffy moved haltingly toward the Master, never taking her eyes off him.

"Do you really think you can best me here, when you couldn't below?" The Master asked as he came toward her.

Buffy came right up to him as she suddenly snapped out of whatever hold he had on her. "You've got fruit punch mouth."

"What?"

Buffy threw a punch that lifted him up and sent him bodily to the ground. "And save the hypnosis crap for the tourists."

He roared and leapt at her. She blocked his attack and delivered a series of blows that caused him to stagger back. He in turn hit her with the same intensity causing her to stagger back.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

A tentacle swung at Giles and knocked him over the railing. He slammed down on the table, splintering it. Half the table sits upended just below the skylight, the shard pointing at the sky.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige is ready as a vampire ran at her. She pulled out a stake and staked him.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The tentacle rose over Giles as he crawled backwards, keeping his eyes on it.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The Master grabbed Buffy and held her. She looked over her shoulder and saw the skylight and the upturned broken table below it.

"Where are your jibes now? Will you laugh when my Hell is on earth?" The Master asked.

Buffy grabbed him by the throat and the arm, and her grasp is stronger than his. "You're really that amped about Hell?" She pulled him close. "Go there." She lifted him and flipped him bodily over her head, throwing him behind her so he landed on his back and crashed through the skylight.

He fell onto the upended table impaling himself.

And then everything stopped. There is loud shriek as the demon tentacles withdraw back into the Hellmouth.

The Master twitched, his mouth open in a scream he'll never make. He exploded into dust, leaving behind a crumbly skeleton lying where he was.

And then it's quiet.

A moment later Buffy and Paige entered the library and they gathered with everyone else in the middle of the room.

"The vampires?" Giles asked.

"Gone," Cordelia said.

"The Master?" Joyce asked.

"Dead," Piper said as she glanced toward the bones. "And the Hellmouth has closed." She looked to Paige and Buffy. "Paige, Buffy?"

Buffy burst into tears as Paige wrapped her arms around her from behind. "It's okay," Paige whispered as Buffy managed to get the tears down to just a couple of sniffles.

"I'm sorry. It's been a really weird day," Buffy said.

"What do we do now?" Phoebe wondered.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd really like to get out of this library. I hate it here," Paige said.

"I hear there's a dance over at the Bronze. Could be fun ..." Xander said as he draped and arm around Cordelia.

"Yeah!" Cordelia said.

"Buffy?" Dawn said looking at her sister.

"Sure. We saved the world. I say we party," Buffy said as she looked down at her dress and then at Dawn's. "I mean, Dawn and I got all pretty ..."

"What about him?" Joyce asked indicating the Master's remains.

"He's not going anywhere. Loser," Buffy said.

"So what happened in the Master's lair?" Piper asked.

"I uh, I healed Buffy," Paige said.

"By yourself?" Piper asked.

Paige shrugged. "It's not a big deal."

"Well, it makes sense," Joyce said. "You are half-Whitelighter."

"Still, what happened must have been pretty extreme," Piper said. "What were you feeling?"

"Love, maybe?" Phoebe suggested.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The next day Paige stood on the tallest tower of the Golden Gate Bridge as an Elder orbed in. "Was that the death?" she asked.

"No," Sandra sighed. "That one was supposed to happen. If it hadn't have been you, Xander would have revived her. Still it seems something extreme did happen last night. Your Whitelighter powers advanced didn't they?"

"Yes," Paige said. "I healed Buffy."

"You could only do that by finding the trigger," Sandra said. "The trigger is love. Your love for Buffy allowed you to access the power. You are now on the path to saving Buffy."


	28. Chapter 28: When She Was Bad Part 1

**Chapter 28: When She Was Bad Part 1**

Xander and Willow walked toward home as they ate ice cream cones.

"Okay, hold on ..." Willow said.

"It's your turn," Xander reminded her.

"Okay, Um ..." Willow said as she thought for a second. " _In the few hours that we had together, we loved a lifetimes worth._ "

"Terminator."

Willow smiled. "Good. Right."

"Okay. Let's see ..." Xander said as he tried to mimic Charlton Heston's voice. "' _It's a madhouse! A m—_ "

"Planet of the Apes," she interrupted.

Xander sighed. "Can I finish, please?"

"Sorry," Willow said sheepishly. "Go ahead."

"Madhouse!"

Willow waited to make sure he was done before answering, "Planet of the Apes. Good. Me now. Um ..."

"Well?" Xander said impatiently.

"I'm thinking. Okay. _Use the force, Luke_."

Xander looked at his best friend and shook his head. "Do I really have to dignify that with a guess?"

"I didn't think of anything. It's a dumb game anyway," Willow answered.

"You got something better to do? We played rock-paper-scissors long enough, okay? My hand cramped up."

"Well, sure, if you're ALWAYS scissors, of course your tendons are gonna stretch –"

"You know, I gotta say, this has really been the most boring week ever," Xander said.

"Yeah, but on the plus side, no monsters or stuff," Willow said as she sat on a stone wall bordering the nearby cemetery.

Xander leaned on the wall next to her. "I know, but I'm so restless!"

"I know what you mean. With Dawn and Buffy visiting Dawn's dad in L.A. it just hasn't been the same," Willow agreed.

"Did they say when they were getting back?" Xander wondered.

"Dawn called last night and said they would be coming home today," Willow answered. "For a week or two. Then Buffy and Dawn will go to San Francisco to spend time with Leo."

"Hey," Xander said as he got an idea of a movie. "I got a movie for you." He dabbed his cone at her, leaving ice cream on her nose.

Willow stared at him wryly. "Xander ..."

"Come on," Xander said as he dabbed his cone on her nose again. "You're Amish, you won't fight back because you're Amish, I mock you with my ice cream cone, Amish Guy..."

"Witness. My nose is cold," Willow said.

"Let me get that –" Xander said as he made as if he was going to lick it off her nose.

Willow started back laughing. "Xander!"

"What can I say?" Xander asked. "It makes your nose look tasty." He daubed it with a napkin. As he did so they made eye contact and they began to lean in for a kiss. Then they stop and pull back from each other to find a vampire just on the other side of the wall.

They saw him as Willow clumsily jumped from the wall. The vampire easily vaulted it and came at them swaggeringly.

"Willow, go!" Xander said moving between her and the vampire.

"Xander –" Wiillow started as the vampire jumped him.

Xander took a step back and through a punch at the vampire, which didn't even phase it.

The vampire grabbed for Xander's neck and leaned in going for the kill.

Willow desperately searched about for some kind of weapon, finally she grabbed the vampire's arm, trying to wrench him off Xander –'

Suddenly someone grabbed the vampire and pulled him backward and spun him around as someone rammed their fist into his face which is then followed by a roundhouse kick.

Xander and Willow watched as they realized it was Buffy as she flipped the vampire and he landed on the ground.

"Hi guys," Buffy said.

Dawn stepped up between Xander and Willow and draped her arms around the shoulders. "Hey," she said. "You want to finish this vamp up, Buffy?"

Buffy nodded as the vampire reared up behind her and without looking back she slammed her foot into his chest, sending him flying back slamming onto a tree with a broken branch and dusting. "Miss us?" she asked.

"Buffy!" Willow shouted. "Dawn!"

"Hey, Will," Buffy and Dawn said simultaneously.

"Man, your timing really doesn't suck," Xander said.

"When did you two get back?" Willow wondered.

"Just now," Dawn said. "Dad drove us down."

"And I knew you losers would be getting into some kind of trouble," Buffy added.

"I think we had the upper hand. In a subtle way," Willow said.

"Do either of you even have a cross?" Dawn asked as Xander and Willow looked down guiltily.

"Very sloppy ..." Buffy said.

"Well, it's been a slow week," Xander said. "That was the first vampire we've seen since you killed the Master."

"It's like they knew we were coming back," Dawn said with a sigh.

"What about you two? How was your week?" Xander asked. "Did either of you slay anything?"

"Strictly R&R," Buffy said. "Hung out, partied ... shopping was also a major theme."

"Well, you haven't lost your touch," Xander said. "That vampire –"

"She kind of wailed on him, didn't she?" Dawn asked as her sister looked at her.

"So, how did you guys fare? Did you have any fun without us?" Buffy asked.

"No," Xander said, while Willow said, "Yes."

"The week has been a little yawnworthy," Xander said. "Our biggest excitement was burying the Master."

Dawn sighed as she looked at her sister and saw Buffy's face hardening.

"That's right, you two missed it! Right out by that tree," Willow said as she pointed toward a tree in the cemetery. "Giles and Paige buried the bones and we poured holy water and chanted and we got to wear robes! Though Paige kind of thought the robes were ridiculous, but she humored Giles. Have you seen Giles?"

Buffy who stared at the tree Willow had pointed at answered very crossly. "Why would I call Giles? I'm still on vacation. I'll see him at school when it starts back up."

"Man, I'm really glad you both are back," Xander said.

"Yeah," Dawn said as she noticed her sister continued to stare at the tree. "We are too."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the Summers home Hank and Joyce were in Buffy's room unpacking.

"More clothes?" Joyce asked as Hank walked in with a suitcase."

"Uh, do shoes count as clothes?" Hank asked guiltily.

Joyce looked to the suitcase. "That's shoes? How much shopping did you let Buffy and Dawn do?"

"Oh, I'm spoiling them," Hank said. "Did I forget to mention that?"

Joyce sighed. "Are you trying to compensate for the fact you found out that …"

Hank too let out a sigh as he looked toward his ex-wife. "No. Well maybe a little. Joyce I have to ask, why didn't you tell me when Leo's spell was removed?"

"Honestly," Joyce said, "the money. Do you know how much it costs to feed two girls? One of whom is a Slayer and has a higher metabolism than we do? I was afraid you would cut off child support when you found out."

"I wouldn't have," Hank replied. "Buffy may not be my daughter biologically. But I did help raise her. That means something at least to me. You should have told me, Joyce."

"You're right, I should have," Joyce said. She decided to change the subject. "Did Buffy and Dawn behave themselves?"

"They did," he said, "though Buffy was … I don't know. Distant. Not brooding, or sulking, just ... there was no connection. All on the surface. The more time we spent together, the more I felt like she was nowhere to be seen."

"Hence the shoes," Joyce remarked.

"I may have been overcompensating a little for that as well," Hank told her. "It was strange. Before I found out that you, Buffy and Dawn were witches and Buffy was the Slayer. I knew what to say. But now ..." he sighed. "I think something is going on with her, Joyce. Dawn told me about the last day of school, the night of the dance and the vampire nearly killing Buffy and Paige healing her. I don't know, but I think there is something …"

"I'll talk to Paige and Rupert," Joyce said.

The next day Joyce somehow had managed to talk Buffy to go see Giles and get in some training. She had persuaded Dawn to go to the Bronze with Willow and Xander. She hoped with her daughters out of the house she might have a chance to talk to Paige, Piper and Phoebe.

Joyce paced in the living waiting, her patience beginning to wear thin as Piper, Phoebe and Paige orbed in.

"What is it, Joyce?" Paige asked with concern. Joyce was after all, alongside her daughters, her charge. And over the past few months she had found it rare that Joyce would call for her.

"Hank brought Dawn and Buffy home last night," Joyce told the sisters. "He said she seemed distant the entire week she and Dawn had been with him. Dawn told him about the Master drowning Buffy …"

"You think that maybe that near death," Piper said, "might have traumatized her?"

Joyce let out a sigh. "I don't know," she said as she sat down in a chair. "I think so. She knows about your mother's death and that Patty was a friend of mine. Before she went face the Master, she begged me to take Dawn and leave Sunnydale, to bind our powers again."

"I remember how she reacted to the news there was a prophecy," Paige said, "about all that and that the Elders had told me she might die in the future. She didn't take it well."

"No she wouldn't have," Piper said remembering when Buffy became the next Guardian of Pandora's Box. "I remember how she reacted when we told her she was the new guardian of Pandora's Box. She didn't want any more destinies thrust upon her. She already had two, with a third coming upon her somewhere down the road."

"Witch and Slayer," Phoebe said with a nod. "And in the future Whitelighter." She looked to her baby sister. "It was what you told Willow to tell Buffy that made her accept being the guardian of the box."

"And I broke that promise," Paige said with a sigh. "She faced the Master alone. Where is she now?"

"Training with Rupert," Joyce said. "Then she was going to meet Dawn, Xander and Willow at the Bronze."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy rained blows on a training post as Giles watched with concern.

"Buffy ... I think that's enough ... Buffy!" he said.

She jerked back from the post and with all her might kicked it, easily snapping it in half. She looked toward Giles, breathing heavily, a trickle of sweat on her forehead.

"Safe to say, you're in good shape," he said.

"Well, I'm ready for anything those vampires want to throw at me," she told him. "If that's all I promised Dawn, Willow and Xander I would meet them at the Bronze."

"Yes, that's fine," Giles said as Buffy turned and walked out of the library. He moved to a phone and dialed.

"Summers Residence, Joyce speaking."

"It's Rupert," Giles said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

At the Bronze the band Cibo Matto was just finishing a song as Dawn, Xander and Willow sat and watched.

"I just think something's up, is all," Dawn said.

"Dawn, you're paranoid," Xander said.

"I think Dawn's right," Willow said. "Buffy's different."

"Buffy's always been different," Xander argued.

"Not like this," Dawn said.

Just then Buffy walked through the door and immediately spotted Dawn, Willow and Xander. She made her way toward them as Paige appeared before her.

"Hi," Buffy said.

"Hi," Paige returned. "I called to see how your mom was doing. She told me you and Dawn were home and that you both had gone out to the Bronze. I thought I would come and see if you would like some company from your girlfriend?"

"Sure."

The joined the others at the table.

"Hi, Paige," Dawn, Willow and Xander said.

"Hi," Paige returned.

Just then the band started playing again. Buffy looked to Paige and took a hold of her hand. "Let's dance."

Paige nodded as she followed Buffy out onto the dance floor and they start to dance. She watched as Buffy did her own rendition of Dirty Dancing, up close and very intimate.

Buffy smiled at Paige. "Paige, did I ever thank you for saving my life?" she asked.

"No," Paige said confused on why Buffy was asking.

Buffy brought her body up close to Paige's. "Don't you wish I would?" she whispered. And with that she turned and left the Bronze.

Paige shook her head. Joyce had been right, something was definitely not right with Buffy. She moved over to Dawn, Willow and Xander. "I'm orbing over to your house, Dawn. Do you want a lift?"

"Sure," Dawn said as she stood up.

"Willow, Xander?" Paige asked. "I can drop you at your houses if you like?"

"Cordelia is supposed to be coming by," Xander said. "I'll wait."

"Alright, Willow?"

"Sure," Willow said as she moved next to Paige and Dawn. They said their goodbyes and walked out of the Bronze and around a corner out of sight of any curious onlookers and orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Cordelia was brought down a set of steps by a pair of vampires and pushed into the near pitch black darkness dark. They turned and headed back up the stairs closing the door behind them with an audible click.

Cordelia looked around terrified as she took a step forward, her eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness. As she took another step forward her foot nudged something, a hand. She jumped back and then looked down at the person on the floor. As she knelt down she pulled the person into her lap and saw that it was Giles who groaned.

Cordelia looked him over and saw that not only was he unconscious but his face was bloody and bruised. "Giles? Oh God ..." She looked around at the dark, up the stairs. In a very small voice she said, "What do they want?"

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy walked through a cemetery completely lost in though and wandering aimlessly. That was till she noticed the tree that the Master had been buried under. She changed course and headed for it, as she drew near she slowed down and finally stopped at the empty grave.

Buffy took a faltering step back and for an instance she could swear the Master was standing right beside her as she spun around. She found that there was no one there. She looked back at the grave, shaking, whispering to herself, "He's dead, he's dead ... he's dead ..." And then she orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the Summers home Paige, Piper, Phoebe, Willow, Dawn and Joyce sat talking.

"So," Piper said. "Buffy is indeed acting very strange."

"Yeah," Paige agreed. "When I saw her at the Bronze she danced with me, up close and personal. Very intimate, kind of like that old movie Dirty Dancing. Then she asked me if I had said thank you for healing her and when I said no she asked if I wish she would."

"Maybe she's possessed?" Willow suggested.

"Possessed?" Joyce asked with a shake of her head.

Willow shrugged. "It's the only explanation that makes any sense. Paige is right, the way she danced. That wasn't Buffy."

"Possessed by what?" Piper wondered.

"A possessing thing!" Willow said excitedly.

"Willow," Phoebe said. "There are a lot of things out there that can possess you, that doesn't exactly narrow it down."

"It is possible," Willow suggested. "That when the Master killed her, some mystical bad guy transference happened."

"It's possible," Piper said. "But let's not rule out the fact that she may just simply have issues. She did well die for a minute."

"Well not completely," Paige said. "Or I wouldn't have healed her. Remember I can heal the dead."

"Well her spirit may not have left the body giving you time to heal her," Phoebe said. "But she was dead. You said she didn't even have a heartbeat or was even breathing. And to tell the truth, based off past events, she probably hasn't dealt with it on a conscious level. It's too painful."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy orbed into the Sunnydale library and looked around. "Giles?" she called out. "Are you still here?" She walked into his office and she frowned at what she saw. Giles had left his briefcase. She moved back out into the library and made her way through the room. Near the back of the stacks at the rear door to the library she found Giles glasses.

"Paige!" she called out. A second later Paige orbed in with Piper, Phoebe, Joyce, Dawn and Willow.

"What is it, Buffy?" Paige asked.

Buffy picked up the glasses and handed them to Paige. "I found these and Giles briefcase is in his office," she said wondering why everyone was there and not just Paige. "Also the Master is gone. I went by his grave after I left the Bronze and they have a vacancy."

"What would somebody want with Master bones?" Willow wondered.

"They're gonna bring him back," Buffy said. "They're gonna bring the Master back to life and I seem to recall you all telling me he was history."

Paige sighed. "Giles told me there was a revivification ritual. But he had never heard of one being successful."

"But he heard of them and told you, Paige," Buffy said. "And you didn't even tell me, your girlfriend, thanks for the warning."

"Buffy, we did bury him in hallowed –" Willow offered.

"This is Slayer stuff, okay? Can we have less from the civilians, please?" Buffy said angrily.

"Okay, that's just about all I've had from you, Buffy Anne Wyatt," Joyce said.


	29. Chapter 29: When She Was Bad Part 2

**Chapter 29: When She Was Bad Part 2**

Buffy sat on the stairs of the library watching the others. Her mother had been angry with her, hence the use of not only her full name but her biological last name as well. And now she sat quiet thinking over things.

"All right, I've got something," Dawn said from the table as everyone looked towards her. "It's Latin, so bear with me. Um, to revive the vampire, they need his bones, which they have ... and, uh, the blood ... and I'm sure I am translating this right ... of the closest person, someone connected to the vampire."

"That'd be me," Buffy said.

"Perhaps ..." Piper said.

"I think Buffy might be right," Phoebe said. "After all they did kill each other."

"It really promotes togetherness," Buffy added.

"Well, is there anything on WHEN the ceremony might take –" Willow wondered.

Just then a rock smashed through the window as Buffy spun around and caught it in her hand. Wrapped around it is Cordelia's necklace, and a note.

"This is Cordelia's," Buffy said. "Xander got it for her." She took the note off the rock and opened it. "Come to the Bronze after it closes, or we make her, her boyfriend and your Watcher a meal."

"What do we do?" Phoebe asked.

"I go to the Bronze and save the day," Buffy said.

"I don't like this," Joyce said with a shake of her head.

"Well, you aren't going," Buffy told her mother.

"What do you mean?" Willow wondered.

"I can't be looking out for everyone while I'm fighting," Buffy said.

"What about the rest of the note?" Piper asked cautiously. "That this is a trap. You'll be playing right into their hands."

"And their hands are gonna get slapped," Buffy said.

"We should at least go in force. Stock up stakes," Phoebe suggested.

"I can handle it," Buffy said.

"Stop saying that! God, what's wrong with you?" Willow shouted.

"This is my fight," Buffy told her as she orbed out.

"I'll go with her," Paige said. "Find a way to stop this ritual." And then she too orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy orbed into the alley behind the Bronze followed shortly by Paige.

"You know, being stalked isn't really a big turn-on for girls," Buffy told Paige.

Paige sighed. "You need help. Someone to watch your back."

"What if I don't want or need you, Paige?" Buffy asked angrily.

"What are you so angry, especially to me?" Paige wondered. "I'm your girlfriend remember. And the way you've been treating me since you came back from Hank's … We'll deal with this later. Right now we're both going inside. Cordelia, Xander and Giles are inside, remember?"

A flash of guilt crossed Buffy's face as she replied, "I do. Alright, just stay out of my way."

They head inside looking around. Both Buffy and Paige pulled out a stake as they walked through the Bronze.

"Do you hear that?" Paige whispered at the sound of someone crying. They look in the direction of the sound and saw a girl huddled on her knees, her back to them, and wearing Cordelia's coat.

Buffy's eyes narrow suspiciously as she takes a slow step forward. "That's not Cordelia."

The girl stood up as she turned to face Buffy and Paige. They get a good look at her and realize Buffy was right. The girl was not Cordelia, she was a vampire.

"Cordelia ... she didn't come ..." the vampire said as she laughed.

"Where is she, Xander and Giles?" Buffy asked.

"I'm not supposed to tell ..." the vampire replied.

"I don't like this," Paige said as she looked around. Why was there just one vampire if this were a trap? Unless it wasn't for them. "This is a trap alright, but not for us."

Buffy's eyes went wide. "Can you …"

Paige nodded as Buffy tossed her stake and dusted the vampire. She frowned at what she had sensed. Neither her sisters, Dawn or Joyce were in the library any longer. "They are on the move. Give me a minute."

What seemed to Buffy to be hours was in fact only a few minutes before Paige looked at her again.

"They've stopped moving," Paige told her. "Now we're going to have a quick lesson."

"Lesson?" Buffy said shaking her head. "We don't …"

"Buffy we have just enough time," Paige said. "Besides if you do this, it might give us a way to work things to our advantage. Now close your eyes." Buffy sighed and did as she was told. "Now think about finding Dawn, your mom, even Piper, Phoebe, Giles, Xander and Cordelia. Wanting to know where they are. Concentrate."

Buffy nodded as she concentrated on finding her sister, her mother, her friends. Within moments she opened her eyes and there was a brief smile, very brief before her 'mask' clouded her features again. "I have them, they are in an abandoned factory. And I have an idea."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The Anointed One, the child that had led Buffy to the Master, walked past an old, rusted surgical table which held the Master's skeleton, holding a goblet in his hands. As he reached reaches the head of the table he stopped next to Absalom, who wore a black ceremonial robe. He handed the goblet to Absalom who looked at the balcony overhead.

On the balcony two vampires started pulling on a chain attached to a pulley. Piper, Phoebe, Dawn, Joyce, Giles, Xander and Cordelia were moved out over the skeleton. They had been hung from upside down from meathooks attached to the chain.

Absalom dipped his finger in the goblet and went to Willow, the first person on the chain, and made a small 'x' on her forehead as the other vampires formed a semi-circle around the side of the table. He continued to the next person and then the next repeating the marking on each of them, till everyone hanging from the chain had a small 'x' on their foreheads.

The Anointed One produced a curved knife and handed it to Absalom, who said a silent prayer over it.

"For the Old Ones, for his pain," Absalom said. "For the Dark."

"For the Dark," the vampire repeat.

Absalom brought the knife to Willow's throat just as a vampire dusted revealing Buffy behind him.

There's a moment of quiet as everyone looked at her. Then Absalom screamed, an inhuman shriek that galvanized the vampires into action. They effectively flank Buffy and two of them, a male and female vampire rush her simultaneously.

Buffy roundhouse kicks them both in the jaw, staggering them back as another male vampire tried to get her from behind, but received an elbow to his throat in response. As they try to surround her. She dodged about the boxes and machines of the Factory, quick and alert.

Absalom noticing that Buffy is occupied, roughly grabbed Willow's face and brought the knife to her throat. Before he can slice it, she and the others start moving toward the balcony. He looked up and saw Paige hauling on the chain that held her sisters and friend, pulling them closer. "The sacrifices! Stop her!" he shouted.

One of the vampires peeled off, leaving only one of the males and the female to face Buffy.

Buffy who stood on one side of the boxes, with the female vampire, kicked the female vampire. Then grabbing the top box she flipped herself over the pile, landing on her feet next to the male vampire and bought a box down smashing it into his head.

Buffy kicks out to the side, smashing through the box and sending the male vampire flying back into the corner.

The female vampire slammed into Buffy and they both went down.

Paige had managed to unhook her sisters and Cordelia and is currently working on Giles who is beginning to waken. Just then the male vampire from below charged Paige who orbed out and in behind him. She whipped out a stake and shoved it in the vampire's heart as he dusted. She returned quickly to the others and began freeing them again.

Buffy struggled to keep the female vampire from biting her. Her hand swept the floor, coming up with a box shard. She slammed it into the female vampire's back, pushing her off right before she's dusted.

The male vampire got the box of his head and seeing that he was now alone with just Absalom, the Anointed One had disappeared, tried desperately to escape. Buffy ran at him and kicked out low sweeping his legs out from under him, sending him flying to the ground. He landed hard.

Paige finally managed to get Willow free as Giles helped Joyce. "Are you all right?" he asked her.

"I think so. My head ..." Joyce said.

"Where's Buffy?" Piper asked.

Xander looked down at Buffy and then toward Paige who nodded. "She's working out her issues," he said as he and Paige watched Buffy pummel the male vampire.

The male vampire flew into the corner under the balcony from the force of a roundhouse kick by Buffy.

"Enough!" Absalom shouted as he stepped out of the shadows holding a sledgehammer. "Your day is done, girl. I'll grind you into a sticky paste. And I'll hear you beg before I smash in your face."

Buffy, who stood by a torch, listened to Absalom's boast. "So, are you gonna kill me? Or are you just making small talk?"

Absalom rushed her at Buffy, swinging back the hammer. At the same time, the male vampire rushed her as well, from the opposite direction. Buffy waited till they were close before kicking at the base of the torch, splintering it. She flipped it up, impaling the male vampire dusting him while catching Absalom on fire.

Absalom reeled back, and then came at Buffy. But he did not make it as the flams consumed him. As he dusted the sledgehammer dropped to the ground in front of her.

Buffy took a moment, breathing hard. She glanced at the Master's bones and as her expression changed she picked up the sledgehammer.

"It's over," Willow said.

Phoebe shook her head. "No, it's not."

Buffy approached the table staring at the Master's bones for but a moment. She then began swinging the sledgehammer again and again. She smashed the skull first, then other parts of the Master's skeleton as she ground them a powder.

Paige orbed in behind Buffy and slowly approached her. She touched her girlfriend's shoulder and Buffy dropped the hammer. As tears began to fall from Buffy's eyes, Paige folded her into her arms holding her close. "It's okay ... it's okay ..."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"I don't think I can face them," Buffy said as she looked at the front door of her house the next day from where she stood between Paige and Giles.

"Of course you can," Paige told her.

"I can't! What am I gonna say? 'Sorry I almost got your throats cut. What's the homework?'"

"Punishing yourself like this is pointless," Giles said.

Buffy sighed. "It's entirely pointy! I was a moron. I put my friends, my mom, my sister, you and Paige's own sisters in mortal danger!"

"What are you going to do," Paige wondered, "crawl into a dark cave for the rest of your life?"

"Would you be there and would it have cable?" Buffy asked looking at Paige.

Paige glanced at Giles as they stopped and turned toward Buffy.

"Buffy, you acted wrongly, I admit, but believe me, that was hardly the worst mistake you'll ever make," Giles said. "That wasn't nearly as comforting as it was meant to be."

"You think," Paige said.

"Well, points for effort," Buffy said. "I'll see you." She looked to Paige and took her hand as they walked into her home where Piper, Phoebe, Xander, Willow, Joyce, Dawn and Cordelia waited.

"Buffy," Willow said with a smile.

"Hey."

"So, are we bronzing tonight?" Xander wondered.

"Wednesdays it's kind of beat," Willow said.

"Well, we could grind our enemies into talcum powder with a sledgehammer, but, gosh, we did that last night," Xander said.

Buffy laughed as she looked at everyone; her friends, her family and realized they didn't hold anything against her. "I was thinking of maybe dinner, here, tonight, all of us."

Piper and Joyce looked at each other and nodded in agreement as they got up and headed toward the kitchen.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** The Halloween episode will be probably in the next 10 chapters (15 probably on the outside) and I would like to know what you all think Buffy will dress as.


	30. Chapter 30: Death Becomes Them Part 1

**Author's Note:** Reviews are borked again. You can review and I will see them in my email (if they are long enough they will get truncated though). But they won't appear on the site till its fixed again.

Also on Halloween, I may end up skipping it with a mention of it in a subsequent chapter. As in the episode I wanted something that would appeal to Paige the way the red dress was to appeal to Angel. Glinda's dress, from the Wizard of Oz, could be a possibility but I don't know why Buffy would think it would please Paige.

* * *

 **Chapter 30: Death Becomes Them Part 1**

Piper and Leo walked through the front door of the manor with Chris and Wyatt. They were immediately followed by Buffy and Dawn carrying grocery bags. The sisters had been visiting the Halliwells and Leo for two days and Piper had wanted to cook them a welcome dinner that evening combined with Chris's first birthday party. They didn't get a chance to finish the entire shopping trip when Paige had called and informed them that a demon had attacked Phoebe and killed Phoebe's friend.

"Hello! We're home!" Piper shouted before turning to look at Leo, Buffy and Dawn. "Traffic was horrible. We should've been home an hour ago."

Buffy glared at her father. "And I at least could have been if dad had let me orb," she said as Piper closed the door.

"Buffy," Leo said with a sigh. "Piper did want a normal life. What I am afraid that means we give up the cosmic taxi."

"Well, that doesn't mean I gave up the right to complain about it," Piper said as they headed for the dining room. "Phoebe! Paige!"

"Where do you want all these?" Dawn asked.

"Put the party supplies on the table, the food in the kitchen," Piper said. "Though I'm not even really sure we're gonna need the party supplies."

"Why not?" Buffy asked. She had been excited to celebrate her youngest half-brother's birthday.

"Well, I don't know if it's right to give Chris a birthday party when Phoebe's friend was just killed," Piper told her step-daughter.

"Well, we can't put everything on hold every time a demon attacks," Leo said.

Piper sighed. "Yeah."

Just then Paige came down the stairs as Dawn walked into the kitchen to put away the groceries.

"Hey," Paige said as she kissed Buffy, who sat the party supplies on the table, before turning to Leo and Piper. "You guys are just getting home now?

"We started back when you called, but the freeway was a nightmare," Piper said. "How's Phoebe?"

"Not so good," Paige replied as Leo followed Dawn into the kitchen intent on helping her with the groceries.

"Is she upstairs?" Piper wondered.

Paige shook her head. "No, she's at the morgue. I thought she said you knew."

"How would I know? I haven't talked to her," Piper replied.

"Dawn, Dad and I can vouch for that," Buffy told Paige as she, Piper and Paige headed for the conservatory.

"I'm kind of worried about Phoebe," Paige said as Piper put Chris into a playpen.

"Why?" Buffy wondered.

"Well, I mean …" Paige said as she glanced at Buffy.

"You mean what?" Piper question when she noticed her baby sister hesitate.

"I know we've seen a lot of death," Paige said. She noticed that Buffy let out a sigh and she wrapped an arm around her girlfriend's waist. "But she's taking this one particularly hard. I was just talking to her on the phone, and she thinks she's, uh, cursed."

"Oh, that's silly," Piper replied.

"Is it," Buffy said as Piper walked over to check on Wyatt, who was playing with his toys. "Especially given what happened just a couple weeks ago when Dawn and I returned home from seeing Hank." While she still considered Hank her father. It was simpler to refer to him in the third person when talking to Piper, Phoebe or Paige since they all knew that Leo was her biological father.

"Buffy," Piper sighed. "That wasn't your fault.

"I know," Buffy replied. "But I can see why Phoebe would think she's cursed."

"I think if we can figure out why this guy was killed, maybe we can prove to her that she isn't," Paige said.

"Did you find anything out at magic school?" Leo asked as he and Dawn returned from the kitchen.

Paige shook her head. "No, and I'm not gonna be able to go back there, either. I have to go meet Joanna."

"Joanna?" Buffy asked.

"I thought I told you, Buffy. Joanna's my new charge. She's a whitelighter to be. She doesn't know magic exists yet, and thinks we're just friends. But the Elders are really worried about her, you know, kind of falling off the path, so I'm just gonna be there to guide her in the right direction. Don't worry I'm not going to fall for her, you already stole my heart."

Buffy blushed and kissed Paige.

"Then you should go," Leo said. "The Elders wouldn't worry unless they had a reason. Besides, Piper, Buffy, Dawn and I are here. We can help Phoebe."

"What about the welcome dinner for Buffy and Dawn and Chris' party?" Paige wondered.

"Uh, I think we're gonna have to postpone it," Piper said.

"What?" Leo and Buffy said simultaneously. "No."

"I have to agree," Dawn said. "From what I know of you guys I don't think Phoebe would not want you to do that."

"Dawn's right," Paige agreed.

"I know, but –" Piper started to object.

Paige shook her head. "No, look. We can make this work. I know we can. You keep planning that party. I'm gonna go meet my charge for a pep talk. By the time Phoebe's back, I'll be home. We can do this."

"I agree," Buffy said. "Besides I want to celebrate my brother's first birthday. I already missed Wyatt's." She turned to Paige. "I want to meet this new charge, if its okay. Maybe see what I'm in for someday down the road."

"Sure," Paige said as she took Buffy's hand and orbed out.

"Mommy wants to teach you a new word," Piper said as she leaned down next to Wyatt. "It's called _denial_."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Let's hurry up and get out of here," Darryl Morris, an Inspector for the San Francisco P.D. and a friend of the Halliwells, said as he and Phoebe walked down the hallway toward the Morgue. "Sheridan's already suspicious enough."

Phoebe sighed. "Darryl, I can't really worry about her right now."

"Maybe you should worry," Darryl told her. "You know, that memory dust won't matter anymore if this keeps up. She's linked you to way too many murders. It's getting harder and harder to cover."

"I know, and I'm sorry about that, but she's got nothing," Phoebe said. "She's going off a hunch."

"But if we accidentally trigger her memories, then everything comes back. Then that's it, it's over. For all of us."

"Well, maybe that's not such a bad thing," she replied.

Darryl frowned as he glanced at Phoebe. "What do you mean by that?"

Phoebe shook her head. "Nothing," she said as they entered the Morgue.

"You sure you wanna do this?" Darryl asked as they moved beside a table holding a body inside a black body bag.

Phoebe sighed, not really sure if she was ready, but she knew she had to be sure of what happened. "Yeah. I mean, I have to figure out what happened."

Darryl unzipped the body bag and opened it for Phoebe to look at the body held in the bag.

"Oh, God," she said.

"Maybe we should go," Darryl suggested.

Phoebe shook her head, she couldn't go, not yet. "No. Ahem ... I have to do this," she said as she laid her hand over the body's hands.

"It looks like somebody was trying to send a message," Darryl said looking at the corpse.

"What?" Phoebe said as she yanked her hands back away from the body. "Why would you say that?"

"It's vicious, it's calculated," he told her. "I see this all the time. It's like he makes you think twice when you see him. Maybe that's the point." He glanced at Phoebe and saw her shaking her head. "Do demons send messages like this?"

"Well, if it is a message, it's obviously for me. I gotta go," Phoebe said as she quickly turned and left the room heading for a phone.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy smiled at Joanna as they waited for Paige to return from her phone call with Phoebe.

"So how long have you two been dating?" Joanna asked.

"A few months," Buffy said. She and Paige had of course lied and said Buffy was actually eighteen not sixteen and a half. "It was love at first sight. But you couldn't tell that from my first impression."

"What was your first impression?"

"I thought she was beautiful in an annoying sort of way," Buffy said as she and Joanna laughed just as Paige returned.

"Phoebe alright?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah," Paige said as she sat next to Buffy. She looked to Joanna "Sorry, that was my sister. Might have to cut this a little short."

"Oh, that's okay," Joanna said. "Karl didn't really want me coming out tonight anyway."

"Oh, you're still seeing him?" Paige asked.

"I know what you're going to say, Paige, but he's a good guy. I swear."

Paige sighed. "I'm just worried about you, that's all, 'cause, honestly, I kind of get a little bit of a ... bad vibe from him."

"It's better to pay attention to Paige's vibes," Buffy said. "They have a tendency to be proven accurate. Of course I'm a little biased here."

"You don't know him like I do, Paige," Joanna said with a nod towards Buffy to acknowledge the thoughtful comment.

"I just know you've had a tough time lately, and I don't want to see you get hurt by this guy," Paige replied.

"I won't. I promise," Joanna said. "Trust me, he's the only thing that's really good in my life right now. Well, other than you, of course. And I hope you too, Buffy."

"Well, thank you," Paige and Buffy said.

"No, really, you've been such a good friend to me, Paige," Joanna said. "And if your girlfriend is anything like you I'm sure she will be. Anyways I don't know what I would've done without you the last few weeks."

"Weeks?" Buffy asked. Why hadn't Paige told her that Joanna had been her charge for a few weeks now?

Paige glanced at Buffy and let out an almost inaudible sigh. She would have some explaining to do later she was sure. She looked back at Joanna. "Sweetie, here's the thing. You have an amazing future ahead of you. You're just gonna have to have a little faith. "

Just then Karl walked up to them and smiled at Joanna. "Joanna," he said before looking at Paige and Buffy, or rather just Paige and glared at her. "I thought I told you I didn't want you hanging out with her."

"What are you doing here?" Paige wondered.

"Getting her away from you," Karl replied.

Joanna sighed. "Karl, don't be rude."

"Well, she's been trying to get between us from day one," Karl said. "I know she has. Look, come on. Let's get out of here."

"I'll be right there," Joanna said as Karl left. "He probably just had a bad day, that's all."

Paige sighed. "Yeah, I'm sure that's what it is. You know, you don't have to go with him."

"I'll be fine. I promise. I'll call you later, okay?" Joanna replied. "It was nice meeting you, Buffy." She turned and followed Karl out the door.

"You're worried, I can see it in your face, Paige," Buffy said.

"Yes," Paige replied. "I also owe you an apology. I meant to tell you. But the prophecy distracted me, Buffy. Your dying distracted me. I would have told you back then."

"I know," Buffy said as she leaned in and kissed Paige. "Let's get out of her. We don't want to hang around any longer than we have to. Don't want Piper losing the liquor license."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Later back at the Manor Phoebe tossed and turned as she slept. She rolled over and opened to her eyes as she came awake. She saw her friend, who should have been dead in the bed with her, his eyes open and staring at her. She screamed as she leapt out of bed.

"It was your fault," he said as he got up. "I died because of you. Now I'm gonna make you pay!" He pushed her up against a wall.

Phoebe in turned pushed what had been her friend away and ran for her bedroom door, opening it she darted out into the hall running smack dab into Piper, Buffy and Leo.

"Phoebe, what—what is it?!" Piper asked as Phoebe moved behind Leo.

"Something has her spooked," Buffy said as she moved toward Phoebe's bedroom door.

"He was trying to kill me!" Phoebe said as Buffy turned on her bedroom lights.

Buffy looked around and saw no evidence that Phoebe's friend had even been there.

"Who?" Leo asked from beside Buffy.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Moments later Piper carried a tray of mugs into the living room. She handed one to Phoebe, who was telling what happened in her room. She proceeded to hand the others to Paige, Buffy and Dawn.

"I'm telling you, he was there," Phoebe said. "And he blamed me for letting him die."

"And you're sure you didn't just dream this?" Paige asked as Piper sat down on the sofa.

"Yeah, I'm sure. How many times do I have to tell you that?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, it's a valid question considering Buffy, Leo and I didn't see anybody in your room," Piper said.

"That doesn't mean he wasn't there," Phoebe said.

"Paige, you remember how while my powers were bound, that the Slayer found a way to utilize my latent premonition power to its advantage," Buffy said. "Could that happen here?"

"It might," Paige said. "But it also could be Phoebe's subconscious," she looked at her middle sister, "because you have been feeling really guilty lately."

Phoebe sighed. "It wasn't a premonition. I know what those feel like. And it definitely wasn't a dream."

Just at the moment Leo came down the stairs carrying the Book of Shadows. "She might be right. I found something on the undead here in the Book. Let me rephrase that. More on a type of zombie, since the vampires that Buffy fights are also considered undead," he said as he sat next to Piper. "According to the Book, demonic alchemists have the ability to control the undead, but lack the power to bring them back to life. They need an upper-level demon for that."

"So we're looking for two demons?" Dawn asked.

Phoebe sighed. "Which means Tim will be back because he wants to make me pay. Who knows? Maybe I deserve it," she said as she put her mug aside on the coffee table near her.

"Phoebe, you can't think like that," Dawn said. "If demons are behind this and they're controlling your friend, Tim, they're just trying to freak you out."

"She's right you know," Piper agreed.

"Well, obviously, it's working," Phoebe replied.

"Which is exactly why you need to get back to business as usual before you drive yourself crazy," Piper told her. "Why don't you go to work?"

Phoebe shook her head. "I don't wanna go to work."

"Might not be such a bad idea. It's a public place. Nobody's gonna attack you there," Leo suggested.

"I can go with you," Dawn suggested. "If you feel that would be better. Besides it could be a learning experience. I've been thinking of getting into journalism in college anyways as it could help Buffy."

"How so," Buffy wondered.

"I might be able to find out about demon and vampire attacks before they wind up on the front page," Dawn said. "Think about it. If we had known about the van accident in which the Annointed One was created in we could have gotten to the morgue sooner before he had risen."

"Also," Paige said turning the topic back to Phoebe going into work. "As soon as we come up with some sort of plan, Buffy or I'll come get you."

"Come on, you're not doing anybody any good like this," Piper said. "Just get up and go to work."

Phoebe sighed. "Okay. But if you find the alchemist, you have to come get me," she said as she and Dawn left.

Just then Paige's cell phone went off and she checked the caller I.D. "It's Joanna," she turned and walked out of the room as she answered her cell.

"Now can we cancel Chris' party?" Piper suggested. "Before any walking dead crash it?"

"I guess we have to," Leo said with a sigh.

"Hey," Buffy said as Leo and Piper looked at her. "Can I offer a compromise? I missed Wyatt's first birthday since I didn't know about you guys then. I don't want to miss Chris's also. Instead of cancelling it, we postpone it. After all is said and done I would still like to celebrate at least one of my brother's first birthdays."

Leo looked to Piper and smiled. "I think Buffy has a good idea. Once the deal with these demons are dealt with. We should, if not for Chris himself, then at least for Buffy. She has after all never witnessed a first for either of her brothers."

"Alright," Piper agreed. "Once everything is done."

"She just got in a big fight with her boyfriend," Paige said as she returned. "She's really upset. I have to go."

"A lover's spat?" Piper asked. "Is that really something her Whitelighter needs to deal with, especially right now?"

"What if it were me and Paige?" Buffy asked. "And we were in the middle of all this. Wouldn't you stop for a moment to help us work through it."

"Of course," Piper said. "But that's …"

"It's no different," Buffy said.

"It's her boyfriend," Paige said. "I get a really bad vibe from him. I feel like he's gonna hurt her."

"Then you should go," Piper said.

"You want me to come with you?" Buffy asked Paige.

"No," Paige said. "With Dawn with Phoebe. I think, as your Whitelighter, you need to be here helping Piper."

"Alright," Buffy said as Paige left.

Piper nodded. "We should call Morris and make sure that Tim's," she said calling Phoebe's friend by his name, "body is still in the morgue ... or not."


	31. Chapter 31: Death Becomes Them Part 2

**Chapter 31: Death Becomes Them Part 2**

"Honey, you're gonna be okay," Paige said as she talked with Joanna. "You're gonna pull through this."

Joanna shook her head. "I'm not. This always happens just when I think I've found the right guy, it all falls apart."

"But Karl might not be the right guy for you," Paige suggested. "I mean, you might really be better off without him."

"Why?" Joanna asked. "So I can just be alone forever? As if my life isn't bad enough already."

Paige sighed. "You can't talk like that," she said. "You can't just give up on yourself."

"Says who? Sometimes I think maybe the world would be better off without me."

"No," Paige said shocked that Joanna would even think that. "That is absolutely not true. You're gonna have to believe me on that one." Just then her cell rang and as she checked it she saw it was home. "Ugh. Now what? Uh, just give me a second, okay?" She stood and moved across the room. "Hey. I thought you said you can do this without me."

"You should know I can never do anything without you, beautiful."

"Buffy?" Paige asked and heard her girlfriend's laughter.

"Sorry, we got some new information. Piper just heard from your friend Darryl. It seems Tim's body is missing."

"Missing?" Paige said suddenly concerned. "Oh, I guess Phoebe wasn't dreaming after all."

"Piper and I are working on the vanquishing potion to get rid of the alchemist. Piper hopes it will reverse his magic and Tim can rest in peace."

"But we still don't know why the alchemist is even doing this or who he's working with," Paige argued.

"We know," Buffy replied. "We're hoping before we vanquish him, he'll reveal who it is. Piper wants you to go get Phoebe and Dawn and orb them back here."

"I kinda don't wanna leave Joanna right now," Paige said.

"What's wrong?"

"She just needs me."

"Okay," Buffy said with a sigh. "We need you too though. I need you. Besides the faster we vanquish this demon, the faster you can get back to your new girlfriend."

Paige let out a sigh as she heard the phone slammed down and then the dial tone. "Uh ... I'm gonna have to go. I've got a bit of a family emergency and maybe even a girlfriend emergency."

"But what if Karl comes back?" Joanna asked. "I don't wanna face him alone."

Paige smiled. "You won't have to. All right, just call me. I will be here in a second."

"But what if you're far away?"

"If you really need me, just yell my name loudly," Paige told her.

"But –"

"No buts," Paige interrupted. "It's okay. All right? You have to trust me. I'm always watching out for you. I promise." She turned and walked over to the door. "Lock the door behind me, and if Karl comes by, do not open the door, all right? I'll be back as soon as I can."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Phoebe sat at her desk at the Bay Mirror as Dawn talked on the phone.

"Alright, Buffy," Dawn said as she hung up.

"Can you send these priority mail?" Phoebe asked her assistant as she handed the woman a stack of letters to be mailed. "Actually, overnight them. These people need help right away."

"What are they?" the assistant asked.

"Advice for my readers," Phoebe said.

"Wait, you're answering them directly now?"

"We can only print so many in the paper," Phoebe said. "I don't wanna let anybody down. Also, you can send all my e-mails through. You don't have to sort through them, okay? Great, thanks."

Dawn reached for the door and pushed the assistant out before closing it behind her. "Paige should be here in a second." She dialed her phone. "It's clear."

Paige orbed into the office and sighed as Dawn hung up her phone. "I thought she'd never leave."

"Yeah, I'm sorry," Phoebe said. "It's just really busy here today. These letters don't answer themselves, you know." She looked down at the letters still on her desk.

"Well, great, you're feeling better then," Paige said.

"She is," Dawn said.

"Yeah," Phoebe agreed. "I know I didn't wanna come in, but you guys were right. It's really helped me a lot."

"Well, fantastic. Uh, okay. We should go. Because you told me to come get you when we have something, and, uh, we have something," Paige said. "Besides I need to see Buffy. I think she is feeling a little jealous of Joanna. So the faster we get this done …"

"Uh, can it all wait?" Phoebe asked.

"What?" Dawn asked confused on why Phoebe would want to wait.

"Well, it's just I have all these letters that I have to answer, not to mention e-mails and phone messages and faxes," Phoebe explained.

"So ..." Paige and Dawn said as they glanced at each other.

"These people need me. I can't just let them down, you know?"

"I see what's going on here, missy," Paige said as she realized what was going on. Phoebe was feeling guilty.

"What do you mean, _what's going on_?" Phoebe asked. "Nothing's going on. I'm just helping innocents in need, that's all."

"No, you are feeling guilty about what happened with Tim, and you're over-compensating," Paige explained.

Phoebe scoffed at the idea she was feeling guilty. "That is ridiculous. I am not."

"You are," Dawn said as she realized Paige was right. "You feel guilty that Tim died."

"I'm not," Phoebe objected. "I'm just doing my job. Besides, I thought I was the one studying psychology."

"Okay, I may not have studied psychology, but I have studied you, and this is classic Phoebe," Paige said.

"I don't know you as well as Paige," Dawn said. "But even I can see it, Phoebe."

"You're running away from your pain," Paige continued. "Honey, you can not run away from this."

"Well, I can try, can't I?" Phoebe asked. "He was just helping me with a flat tire. That's all. He didn't do anything wrong. He was just ... with me. And I'm supposed to deal with that? "

"Well, I think you deal with it by vanquishing the demons responsible," Dawn said. "You know, making Tim's death count for something."

"Yeah, but we don't even know who's responsible or why they're doing this," Phoebe reminded them.

"I'm starting to think there's only one demon who could be responsible for this," Paige said with a sigh.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Later back at the manor Piper and Buffy are working on the potion that bubbled in a pot on the stovetop.

"Zankou?" Buffy asked after everyone was filled in on who could be responsible for bringing Phoebe's friend Tim back.

"An upper level demon," Piper said noting the distance that Buffy was keeping from Paige.

"One that's certainly powerful enough to help the alchemist," Paige added before looking at her sisters, "and he knows us well enough to try something like this. Maybe he's finally going after us."

"Yeah, but why kill an innocent?" Phoebe asked. "Why not just come after me?"

"Maybe he's trying to break you down," Dawn suggested.

Phoebe sighed. "I'm beginning to like it better when I thought I was cursed."

"And you know you're not, right?" Piper asked.

"Right, I do. Now," Phoebe replied. "I should've just listened to you."

"What do you mean?" Piper wondered.

"You know, the talk we had in the attic."

"Phoebe," Buffy said. "Piper was with Dad, Dawn, Chris, Wyatt and I at the store."

"It was probably Zankou," Paige added. "He shape shifted into one of us before."

Phoebe slid down from her perch on the sink. "Okay, well, how do I know this is you all now? How do I know any you are not Zankou right now?"

"She has a good point," Buffy said before anyone could say they weren't. "All it would take is one of us alone. And he could impersonate us. That said though, maybe we should put Phoebe's mind at ease."

Piper nodded. "Jake Singer, back seat, tenth grade. Can Zankou tell you all about that?" she asked.

"You know how I hate you meddling in my life," Paige said. "But I'm glad you meddled in mine and Buffy's."

Buffy motioned outside and everyone moved to a window but herself. She went out the back door and round into the driveway and up to Piper's car. She put her hands under the bumper and lifted. The front wheels lifted about a foot off the ground before she set it back down and came back inside. "Any questions?"

Dawn squinted an the refrigerator door opened and closed on its own. "Remember I just found out I had the power of telekinesis about the time Paige was possessed by the Hyena."

Phoebe sighed. "I think I'm losing my mind," she said as she headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Piper asked.

"To the book to find a way to vanquish Zankou before I really do lose my mind," Phoebe replied as she walked out of the kitchen.

Paige sighed. "What are we gonna do about her?"

"The only thing we can do - help her vanquish Zankou," Piper said.

"Sounds like a plan," Buffy agreed.

"Okay," Paige said. "Well, then, I guess we won't be needing that potion."

"Don't you?" Dawn asked. "Won't you need to get to the Alchemist who can lead you to Zankou?"

"Yes," Piper said, "and then, hopefully, when we get rid of both of them, Phoebe will be able to sleep again."

"Where's Phoebe going?" Leo asked as Phoebe entered the kitchen.

"Probably to a mental institution," Paige said.

"Did you put the kids down for their nap?" Piper asked.

Leo nodded. "Yes, and I started calling all our friends to postpone Chris' party."

"Oh, I'm sorry you guys had to do that," Paige said with a sigh.

"At least we are just postponing it," Buffy said, "not cancelling it like Piper originally wanted. I still want to celebrate my little brother's first birthday."

"And we will," Piper agreed. "Once we've vanquished Zankou."

"In the meantime, I have to go check on Joanna, make sure she's okay," Paige said.

"Okay," Piper agreed. "Hurry back."

"I will," Paige said as she orbed out.

Piper turned to Buffy. "Buffy, before we get back to the potion. Can you tell me what is going on with you and Paige?"

Buffy sighed. "With how much Paige has been seeing Joanna …"

"You get the feeling she might be cheating on you," Piper said in understanding. "She's not, trust me. But it's alright to be jealous, just don't let your jealousy get out of hand."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige knocked on Joanna's apartment door. "Hey, Joanna, it's me, Paige. I'm back," she said she knocked again. "Joanna, open up. Are you okay?" She opened the door with a frown as she remembered she had told Joanna to make sure it was locked. "I told you to keep the door locked."

The moment Paige stepped into the apartment she found Joanna on the floor dead. "Oh, god," she said as she slowly sank to her knees next to her charge's body. She reached down and lightly stroked Joanna's hair with her hand while tears came to her eyes. "So sorry. I'm so sorry."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Back at the Manor Buffy frowned as she began to sense something.

"Buffy?" Leo asked as he noticed the look on his daughter's face.

"I know from what you said that a Whitelighter can sense their charge and even their family. Can they also sense others?" Buffy asked.

"What do you mean?" Piper wondered.

"I get this feeling that Paige is in trouble. No not quite in trouble but something bad happened," Buffy told her father and Piper.

Piper looked to Leo as she thought of something. "Is it possible that Buffy's Whitelighter side has connected to Paige's somehow since they admitted they were in love?"

"It is possible," Leo said as he looked at his daughter. "You better go check on Paige."

Buffy nodded as she orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy orbed into Joanna's apartment and found Paige still leaning over Joanna's body. "Paige?" she said as she rushed to Paige and knelt down next to her girlfriend. "What happened?"

"I think …" Paige said between tears, "that Karl killed her."

"Oh, Paige," Buffy said as she pulled Paige into an embrace. She looked over Paige's shoulder at Joanna's body and all the jealousy she had been feeling simply evaporated. "Okay. We need to call that cop friend of yours and report this before someone else finds out."

Paige slowly pulled away from Buffy and pulled out her cell phone and dialed. After a couple minutes she hung up, frustrated. "Daryl's not answering. How can he not answer?" she asked angrily.

"I don't know," Buffy said. "But we do need to call the police. We can't let this scumbag get away with this."

Paige sighed. "I … no … we should've been there with her. She should not have been left alone."

Buffy smiled and she knew that Paige still loved her and that Joanna had just been Paige's friend. "You can't blame yourself. Just as I don't blame you. I was jealous, Paige."

Paige nodded. "I can sense when you, Dawn, or Joyce are in trouble. Why I couldn't I sense her?"

"Because just like it did with me, Dawn and my mom. The bond had to be formed. It takes time. "

"That's not good enough, because I promised her that I was gonna be there and I failed," Paige said clearly upset.

"No, you didn't, sweetie," Buffy said. "I think this Zankou wants you to think you did."

"Zankou?" Paige asked.

Buffy nodded. "You all said that he's been targeting you, Piper and Phoebe. First there was Phoebe's friend and now Joanna. I don't think that's a coincidence."

"What, you think Karl's working with Zankou?" Paige asked.

Buffy shook her head. "I think he is Zankou. Think about it. He knew exactly what he was doing. He's targeting the people in your guys lives."

"What good would that do?" Paige wondered.

Buffy shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe he thinks he can make you vulnerable somehow?"

"Wait," Paige said. "Piper hasn't been targeted."

"Not yet," Buffy said, "but that doesn't mean no one will be though."

And then something occurred to Paige. "You, Dawn and even Joyce need to be careful also," she said as she looked at Buffy.

Buffy sighed. "I know. I intend to orb Dawn back to Sunnydale with instructions that she and Buffy spend the rest of the summer with Aunt Arlene."

"That is Joyce's sister, right?" Paige asked.

"Yeah," Buffy said. "Since our powers were unbound we found out that Aunt Arlene and Aunt Lolly were witches also. Aunt Arlene lives in Chicago. Three witches in the same house should hopefully turn Zankou off."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy and Paige orbed back to the Manor and quickly filled Piper, Dawn and Phoebe in. Piper then asked Paige to take Leo, Wyatt and Chris to Magic School.

Buffy took her sister's arm and led Dawn into the bedroom they had been sharing while staying at the Halliwells. "Dawn," she said. "I'm going to orb you to mom. I need you and mom to go to Aunt Arlene."

"Buffy?" Dawn said confused on why her sister was saying all this.

"Paige's charge, Joanna, is dead. I think Zankou did it. You, me and mom could be targets. Hopefully Zankou will think twice about attacking you two at Aunt Arlene's."

"What about you?" Dawn wondered.

"I'm staying here, I have to help Paige and Piper and Phoebe."

Buffy orbed Dawn home and Dawn headed straight for the stairs and to her room as Buffy walked into the living room where she found her mother watching TV. "Mom?"

"Buffy?" Joyce said as she stood up, she was instantly confused on why her daughter was home.

"I need you to take Dawn and head to Aunt Arlene," she explained. "Paige's new charge is dead and I'm afraid the demon that killed her will come after me, you or Dawn. I'm hoping that if you and Dawn are with Aunt Arlene that this demon will think twice."

"What about you?" Joyce asked.

"I'm going back to help Paige, Piper and Phoebe. And before you try and talk me out of it, mom. You know what Paige means to me and what I mean to her. I don't think I could be on the sidelines while Paige is trouble. Besides you remember the message Paige gave to Willow for me when I had to put the sorrows back in Pandora's Box. It goes both ways mom. I want to be beside her through everything."

Joyce let out a sigh and nodded. "Be careful. And you call when it's all over."

"Promise," Buffy said as she orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy orbed into the attic of the Halliwell Manor to find Piper and Phoebe there.

"Are you sure?" Phoebe was saying.

Buffy was sure she was just coming in on the middle of the conversation. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Pretty sure, unless they're invisible," Piper replied before looking toward her step-daughter. "Phoebe possibly saw someone new from our past."

"You think they could be invisible?" Phoebe asked as Piper turned and walked out of the attic.

"No," Piper said as Phoebe and Buffy followed her. "Come on, we've got to find the alchemist and hopefully Zankou. Buffy why didn't you …"

"You should already know the answer to that," Buffy said. "What was the message Paige gave to Willow when I put back the sorrows?"

"That she would stand by you through everything," Piper said in understanding. "And you intend to do the same, don't you."

"Wouldn't you," Buffy answered. "If it were Dad?"

Piper smiled and nodded. "Why don't you call for your girlfriend?"

"Paige!" Buffy called out seconds before Paige orbed in.

"What? I was just getting Leo and the boys settled in at magic school," Paige said.

"I need you to see if you can find Joanna, quickly," Piper said.

"Joanna?" Buffy asked. "Why? She's dead. She's gone on to the afterlife, she's effectively no longer Paige's charge."

Piper sighed. "Yeah, I know. But I don't think she will stay dead for long."

"Wait, you think Joanna's gonna come back, too?" Phoebe asked.

Piper nodded. "I'm counting on it. So you need to see if you can sense her."

Buffy wrapped her arms around Paige from behind. "I'm right here, I'm not leaving you."

Paige looked over her shoulder and smiled before focusing on Joanna.

"Anything?" Phoebe asked.

Paige shook her head. "No, but like with Buffy. The bond doesn't form right away. And you have to remember I had only been Joanna's Whitelighter for a few days."

Piper sighed. "Okay, then we're gonna have to scry for her the old fashioned way," she said as she walked over to the table and picked up the map and scrying crystal.

"Do you think she's even gonna turn into a zombie?" Paige asked.

"It fits the pattern," Piper said as she put the map down on the table, then started clearing it.

"And trust me, you don't want to be surprised once it happens," Phoebe said.

"Just concentrate. She was your charge. If anybody can find her, you can," Piper said.

Buffy picked up the crystal and smiled holding it out to Paige who reluctantly took it. Buffy then cupped her hand over Paige's and together they began moving the crystal over the map.

"You know, I'd really rather not find her, considering I'm the reason she's dead," Paige said.

"Join the club," Phoebe said.

"Look, the faster we find Joanna's body, we'll find the alchemist and hopefully Zankou before he kills anybody else in our lives," Piper said as she glanced specifically at Buffy.

Paige looked at Buffy and then at her sisters and nodded. If Zankou were to go after anyone next it would be Buffy. It surprises her that he hadn't already. "Maybe …"

"No," Buffy said heading off Paige's suggestion that she either go with her mother and Dawn to Aunt Arlene's or go to Magic School where Leo was. "Do you remember what you told Willow to say to me when I went to put the sorrows back."

"Of course," Paige said.

"You told me you would stand by my side," Buffy continued. "And I want to do the same, Paige. Just as I wouldn't stop you from being by my side through it all. I don't want you to stop me being by your side through it all."

Paige nodded as the crystal hit a spot on the map. She looked down. "Found her. Cemetery."

Phoebe shook her head. "Not good. Never good."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige, Piper and Phoebe orbed into a mausoleum not to a concrete slab on which lay Joanna.

"Oh, god, that's her," Paige said as Joanna opened her eyes and looked at Paige.

"Miss me?" Joanna said as she stood up.

Piper gasped as she and her sister took a step backward.

Reece Davidson, a former Inspector for the San Francisco Police Department and now deceased, came up behind Piper and Tim moved behind Phoebe.

"Looks like it's time for payback," Reece said as the girls turned around to face him and Tim.

"Look, we don't want to hurt you," Phoebe said.

"It's a little late for that," Tim replied.

"Paige, maybe you should orb us out of here," Phoebe suggested as Joanna stepped up behind Paige.

Piper shook her head hoping Buffy's plan worked. "No, the alchemist has to be around here somewhere."

"I see my reputation precedes me." They turn and saw the Alchemist step out of the shadows. "But if you want to get to me, you have to get through them."

"Do they?"

The Alchemist turned at the sound of the voice and found Buffy standing behind him. "Call them off," she said holding the vial that would vanquish him. "Where are you Zankou? Show yourself, or are you afraid to face a Slayer."

Zankou smiled as he stepped out of the shadows. "Interesting, very interesting," he said as he threw a fireball at the Alchemist vanquishing him. "I knew I should have gone after you instead of the new charge."

"Maybe you should have," Buffy replied with a smile.

"What do you have to gain?" Piper wondered.

Zankou shrugged. "You'll soon find out," he said as he flamed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Well, why can't we try to vanquish Zankou the same way we vanquished The Source?" Paige asked when they returned to the Manor.

"He'll be ready for that. That's why we need something new," Phoebe said as she, Piper, Paige and Buffy stood in the center of the attic.

"Why did he vanquish the Alchemist himself?" Piper wondered.

"I don't know. Maybe there's something in the Book," Paige said as she looked at the bookstand and found the Book missing. "Where's the Book?"

Buffy let out a sigh. "That's what he meant about finding out soon. Zankou took it."

"Yeah, but how did he get it?" Phoebe asked.

Piper looked around the attic. "Doesn't matter. He's got it now."

"The question is, what's he gonna do with it?" Paige wondered.


	32. Chapter 32: Something Wicca Part 1

**Chapter 32: Something Wicca This Way Goes Part 1**

"Okay, how do we know Zankou's not here waiting for us?" Phoebe asked as she, Buffy, Paige and Piper orbed into Magic School.

"Because Magic School's protected from him, that's how," Buffy answered. "That's one of the first things dad taught Dawn and I when we started coming here after school."

Piper turned and headed out the door. "Leo?!" she shouted as Buffy, Phoebe and Paige followed her.

They rushed through the hallway heading for the Great Hall as they looked for Leo.

"Still, now that Zankou's got the Book of Shadows," Phoebe said.

"He can't use all of its powers, not without ours," Piper said.

"Dad!" Buffy shouted.

"No, but he could use it to get our powers," Piper said. "I mean, it's been done before, right?"

"Look, as long as we're here, we're safe," Paige said as Leo came out a nearby door.

"What's wrong?" Leo asked looking at his daughter and Piper.

"How are the boys?" Piper asked.

"They're fine," Leo said. "They're sleeping. Why?"

"Uh, Zankou's got the Book of Shadows," Phoebe told him.

"What?" Leo asked shocked that it was even possible. "How?"

"Well, as soon as we figure that out, we'll let you know," Paige replied.

"Though I do have a theory, dad," Buffy said. "He attacked us, well Piper, Phoebe and Paige where it would hurt the most. Namely at the innocents they've lost."

"In another words he broke us down," Phoebe added.

"Right," Buffy said. "And you told me and Dawn that Paige, Phoebe and Piper's powers are tied to the book as well as their emotions. So by making them vulnerable …"

Leo nodded seeing where his daughter was going. He was proud of what she had been able to deduce from what evidence was at hand. "He made the Book vulnerable, too," he finished for her.

"I guess he knew us a little better than we thought," Piper said with a sigh.

"The question is, what is he really after?" Phoebe asked.

Leo looked at Buffy and motioned for her to continue.

"Power," she suggested.

"Buffy's right," Paige said in agreement.

"The Nexus," Piper said with a sigh.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the basement of the Halliwell Manor demons worked digging out a hole in the floor.

"There we go," one of them said.

Zankou rushed down the stairs and headed over to the demon in charge, Kahn. "How close are we?"

"We'd be a lot closer if we could use our powers to open it," Kahn replied.

Zankou shook his head vehemently. They couldn't do that or they might not make it out of the basement alive. "The nexus will view that as a threat, destroy us all. Remember it's neither good nor evil. It's just sheer unadulterated power, the kind The Charmed Ones have been harboring for far too long. Now it's my turn to play."

"What'll be your first move—once you possess it, I mean?"

"Oh, I don't know, uh ... I'll have full access to the Book of Shadows, of course, which means ... I'll have ultimate power," Zankoue said as he laughed at the mere thought of it. "I hope I don't get bored."

"The Nexus, milord," a demon said.

Zankou turned and found the demons stood over a hole in the ground. "Step back," he said as they stepped back. He moved in front of the hole and closed his eyes. "Natum adai necral ..." Smoke started to rise out of the hole in front of him. "… daya intay layok!"

In the midst of the smoke the Shadow rose out of the hole. It gave a roar and hovered in front of Zankou as if it were sizing him up. Zankou opened his eyes and looked back at it. Suddenly, the Shadow slammed into Zankou, seeping into him through his eyes pushing back as it filled him.

Zankou turned to face the demons and they each saw his eyes had turned solid black. "It is done," he said in a voice that was much deeper than usual.

"What are your orders?" Kahn asked as the demons bowed before Zankou.

Suddenly, Zankou gasped in pain. He staggered forward, raising his hands to his face as he screamed. The Shadow is violently expelled from him and back into the ground.

"What happened?" Kahn asked.

"The sisters," Zankou said, his voice back to normal along with his eyes, "they cast it out of me with a spell."

"From the Magic School? Impossible."

"Nothing's impossible there!" Zankou said as he pushed the demons out of the way and headed for the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Kahn asked.

"To the Book of Shadows ... to find a way to stop them!" Zankou said as he looked back at Kahn. He headed up the stairs leaving the demons and Kahn alone in the basement.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the Great Hall of Magic School Buffy slowly stood up from her hiding place behind a sofa and next to Paige. "Did it work?" she asked.

"I think it did," Paige replied as she too stood up.

Piper slowly stood up from her hiding place behind a set of large chairs lined up against one side of the wall. While Phoebe stood up from her hiding place behind another set of large chairs lined up against the opposite wall.

"How do you know?" Phoebe asked.

Paige linked hands with Buffy as they stepped around the sofa. "Well, because if he'd already tapped into The Nexus, he would have broken in by now. Good thing you remembered that spell."

"Well, we can't just keep casting it because he's gonna figure out a way around it sooner or later," Piper said as they all headed for the table in the middle of the hall.

"Well, we have to get the book back before he does," Phoebe said.

"How?" Buffy wondered.

"I'd like to know that also, any ideas?" Piper asked.

Phoebe sighed. "Oh, I was hoping you'd have some."

"Me?" Piper asked. "Why me?"

"Well, because you're the only one who still has any confidence around here," Phoebe replied.

"Well that's not entirely true," Buffy said with a smile. "I have confidence in you guys."

"Actually," Piper replied. "You might be the only one, Buffy, because I'm just 'cause a good actor."

"Well, I hope you can fool the Book because unless we get our confidence back—and fast—it may not let us get it back. And if Zankou gets The Nexus first, there won't even be a point of trying," Paige said.

"Well, we can't let that happen. I mean, if he succeeds, then everything we've done in the last seven years means nothing, and I'm not willing to live with that," Phoebe said.

"Well, you might not have to," Piper said.

"What if I got it?" Buffy asked.

"It might not let you, Buffy," Paige said with a sigh. "It surely knows you and I are tied together."

"Then we go down fighting," Phoebe said.

"Which brings us back to how do we stop him?" Paige said.

"Okay, let's think about this for a second," Phoebe said as she moved to one of the chairs and sat down. "We know Zankou as well as he knows us, right?"

"Yeah," Piper said. "So?"

"So, what is the one thing that Zankou wants more than the Nexus?" Phoebe asked.

Paige scoffed. "Our heads on a platter?"

Buffy shook her head as she let out a sigh. "You do know that is not an image I want in my head, right?"

"Sorry," Paige said as she gave Buffy a quick peck on the cheek.

"Despite Paige's choice of words, she's right," Phoebe said. "He hates us. He wants to kill us. So why don't we give him a reason, you know, piss him off enough so that the focus is off The Nexus and onto us?"

"It could buy us time to get the Book back," Paige agreed. "It just might work."

"Yeah, unless he kills us first," Piper said.

"Again don't mention that either," Buffy said as she glared at her step-mother.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Kahn walked into the attic of the Halliwell Manor and found Zankou looking through the Book of Shadows. "What are you looking for?"

"A reversal spell to stop them from keeping me from The Nexus," Zankou replied.

"But even if you find one, it might not work," Kahn said. "You said yourself that without full access to the Book that it –"

Zankou glared at Kahn. "I know what I said. There's a potion."

"Why not just keep trying to take in The Nexus ... outlast them—after all, they can't keep pulling it out of you - timing it just right? Sooner or later, you'll have the power long enough to break through the protection of the magic school, then you can kill them."

"You don't know them like I do," Zankou replied. "You can't take them head-on. It doesn't work. That's how demons die ... but not this demon, not this time."

"This is no time for personal vendettas," Kahn told him. "I think your focus should be The Nexus, not the witches."

"Are you challenging me, Kahn?" Zankou said with fire in his eyes.

"You brought me on as your counsel. I'm merely acting as such. If you are displeased with me, then –"

Zankou shook his head. "No. No, you have served me well and will continue to do so. And to that end, go to the kitchen and bring me up some mandrake, henbane, and some hemlock root. I'm making a potion."

"To do what?" Kahn asked.

"To steal their powers," Zankou replied. "There are other ways of gaining full access to the Book of Shadows."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Phoebe sat at a desk in Paige's study writing various things down as she looked through the various text books.

Piper sat at another desk, with more opened books in front of her. "Wasn't there a confidence spell in the Book of Shadows?"

Phoebe nodded. "Yeah. Remember we cast it on that waiter at Quake?"

"Wow, Quake," Piper said. "That was a long time ago. Maybe we should cast it on

ourselves. We could use a little confidence."

"Yeah, but that won't piss off Zankou," Phoebe said with a sigh.

"No, but it might help us get the Book back," Piper said.

"What if we ... switched bodies with him instead?"

"Can't," Piper reminded her. "He'd be in Magic School."

"Ooh, right. How about a love spell? We could make him fall for one of us," Phoebe suggested.

Piper chuckled. "Sorry. Both Paige and I are taken."

Phoebe sighed. "Yeah, well, I'm not."

"Yeah, but you're not that desperate ... are you?"

Phoebe shrugged. "Well, those demons do have a way of keeping you warm at night."

"Yeah, but that's only because they have fireballs," Piper replied as Phoebe chuckled. She looked down at the open book before her. "Hear secret thoughts ... stretch the imagination." She looked at Phoebe. "What if we turn you into a banshee again and turn you loose on him?"

"Ooh, too much screeching," Phoebe answered. "It's hard on my voice. Hey, I have an idea. What if we humiliated him and turned him into an animal, like we did that one time to everyone at P3, remember?"

"That was a backfire for a spell, remember?" Piper reminded Phoebe.

"Oh, right," Phoebe said. "Still beggars can't be choosers."

"Phoebe, Piper!" Buffy yelled from the Great Hall. "Come here. Paige and I think we got something."

They quickly walked out of the study and down the hall into the Great Hall and find Paige and Buffy with various magic beings.

"What are they all doing here?" Piper asked.

Paige smiled. "Reinforcements."

Phoebe smiled as she turned to look at Piper.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the attic of the Halliwell Manor a cauldron exploded as Zankou added an ingredient to the pot. "Impressive," he said. "Hand me one of those vials, if you would."

"How do you know it will work?" Kahn asked as he reached for a vial and handed it to Zankou.

"I don't, but I assume if it's in their venerable book, it should," Zankou replied.

"But they're hiding in the magic school. How are you gonna get close enough to use it on them?"

Zankou smiled. "They're not gonna stay hidden for long. That's not their style," he said as they heard the sounds of the demons attacking someone or something downstairs. "As I was saying." He dashed out of the attic followed by Kahn. They ran down the stairs into the main hall. "What the hell?"

There they found that the main hall and sitting room were filled with magical beings wreaking havoc on the demons. Trolls ran around the rooms causing the demons to run into each other. Valkyries fought demons as do fairies and leprechauns.

Zankou powered up and energy ball and threw it at the giant.

Kahn threw an energy ball at the Valkyrie.

Zankou threw another energy ball at a gnome.

A fairy flew into Zankou, weaving around his head, who batted the fairy away with his hand.

With Zankou distracted a troll took the opportunity and ran quickly up the stairs. He ran

circles around Zankou's feet causing him to trip down the short flight of stairs.

Kahn looked down at the troll and threw an energy ball at him, vanquishing him.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the Great Hall of Magic School a rainbow appeared in front of the girls as they waited for word.

"Now!" A leprechaun said as he appeared.

"Something wicked in our midst, in our home where he exists," Piper, Phoebe and Paige chanted as Buffy watched.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

At the Manor Kahn walked down the stairs to check on Zankou. "Are you all right?"

His response was a wave of orb lights that passed over Zankou changing him into a pig with only his head intact. The magical beings stopped fighting the demons and began laughing at Zankou.

"Well, don't just stand there!" Zankou said, humiliated. "Kill them all!"

The magical beings floated, flew and ran across the sitting room as Zankou realized what was really going on.

"The Book! They're after the Book!" Zankou shouted. "Stop them!"

Kahn immediately shimmered out.

Zankou closed his eyes as he thought of a spell to restore himself. "Reverse the spell from whence I fell."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the attic Kahn shimmered in to find Piper, Phoebe and Paige there. Piper raised her hands and blasted Kahn, sending him backward out the attic door and down the stairs.

Hurry," Piper said to Phoebe. "Get to the book. Go, go, go!"

Phoebe ran to grab the book but found a shield impeding her. She fell down backward onto the floor with a thud.

"What happened?" Piper wondered as she helped Phoebe up.

"It wouldn't let me take it," Phoebe said. "We should have cast a confidence spell."

Behind them Zankou flamed into the attic. "You're trespassing."

They turn around and see him standing in front of the attic window just as Buffy orbed in behind him.

"So are you," Buffy said hoping to distract Zankou. Instead Zankou threw an energy ball at her throwing her across the attic, hitting a table with a thud.

Piper, Paige and Phoebe ran around Zankou to Buffy and knelt down to help her up.

Zankous smirked as he saw his opportunity and threw the vial containing the potion he brewed on the floor near Phoebe. It burst and a cloud of white smoke rose up out of her, unknown to all of them just as Paige orbed them all to Magic School.

Kahn re-entered the attic a second later dismayed that that he'd missed the sisters. "I failed you. Forgive me."

"Actually, it was a complete success," Zankou said. "After all, we still have the Book, and, as an added bonus, I now have one of their powers." A grin graced his face.


	33. Chapter 33: Something Wicca Part 2

**Chapter 33: Something Wicca This Way Goes Part 2**

Paige knelt next to Buffy as she healed her girlfriend's wounds. "Does it hurt?" she asked.

"Not any more than usual," Buffy said with a smile.

Piper glanced at her husband, Phoebe, Paige and even Buffy and an Elder named Sandra. "This is getting old."

"You were lucky to get out of there at all," Leo said from where he knelt next to Buffy and Paige.

Paige sighed. "Tell me about it."

"He threw something at Phoebe," Buffy said, "maybe a potion or something."

"Did it do anything?" Leo asked looking at Phoebe.

Phoebe shook her head. "I don't think so."

"The magic from your book is not available to him yet," Sandra said as she walked around them.

Buffy stood up as did Paige and Leo and turned with Piper and Phoebe to look at Sandra.

" _Yet_ being the operative word," Piper said.

"Well, we wanted Zankou to focus on us," Paige asked. "Now, uh, how do we survive that?"

"You gotta get the Book back," Leo said.

"How?" Buffy wondered. "They tried."

"It won't let us take it," Phoebe added.

"Maybe he cast a protection spell on it?" Paige wondered.

"Or maybe the Book doesn't remember who we are," Piper said.

"Maybe it's because we don't remember who we are," Paige said with a sigh as she glanced at Buffy.

Well, you've got remember," Leo said. "Now, you gotta go back. You gotta try again, together."

"Leo's right," Sandra said in agreement. "You have to get the Book back if only to destroy the

Nexus."

"What?" Buffy said at the same time that Paige said, "Excuse me?"

"There's a spell in the book, one you've never used before, called, _How to Banish a Suxen_."

"A Suxen?" Phoebe asked out of confusion.

" _Nexus_ spelled backwards," Leo told them.

"It was put in there a long time ago as a last resort, in case we lost control of The Nexus, to keep it from evil," Sandra said.

"But if we destroy the Nexus, good won't have access to it, either," Phoebe argued. "We won't have access to it."

"I don't think the elders think that we're gonna be around long enough to worry about that," Piper said.

"Not necessarily," Sandra said as she looked at pointedly at Buffy and Paige. Piper, Leo and Phoebe all turned to look at Buffy and Paige and got the implication that if the Elders had felt that they would lose that they would not have given Buffy and Paige to each other to fall in love. "We're simply taking precautions."

"Including—let me guess—sealing yourselves off from us in case we fail?" Piper asked.

Sandra didn't answer the question for she knew that Piper, Phoebe and Paige knew the answer. The Elders would still be in their lives or at the least in Paige and Buffy's even if the Charmed Ones lost the battle against Zankou. "Be well," she said as she orbed out.

"Eh! Excuse me?" Paige said. "That's what you're leaving us with? Now what?"

"Well, you can't just give up," Buffy said as she glared at her girlfriend, "that's what."

"Uhh, Buffy," Piper started.

"Look," Leo said as he draped an arm around his daughter's waist. "I agree with Buffy. You can't just give up. Your plan is working. You got Zankou off The Nexus. Now you just need to distract him long enough to get the book back."

"He's too powerful," Phoebe objected.

"The hell he is," Leo argued. "Look, you guys are The Charmed Ones. No one is more powerful than you guys are. How many times have you proven that over the years? You can't just give up. Look, you have a legacy to carry on, to pass on to the next generation, to our boys, to Buffy and Dawn, to your future kids ..."

"A bit wordy, isn't he?" Paige asked.

"Well, you know him with the exposition," Piper said.

"Doesn't mean he's not right," Phoebe said. "The question is, what's our next move? I mean, we can't just ask the leprechauns and the trolls for more help."

"But maybe we could ask some bats," Piper said as she glanced at Buffy, "with the help of the Slayer."

"Bats?" Buffy asked.

"The vampires you face as the Slayer are not the only kind of vampire out there," Leo said. "While they share similarities there are differences. The kinds you face as you know are a type of possessor demon. The ones that Piper, Phoebe and Paige have faced come from a Queen. These vampires infect a person with vampirism and with the first kill become a vampire. They do not need to die and vanquishing the Queen before that first kill will return the victim to normal."

"Who was infected?" Buffy wondered getting the notion that they knew this from first hand information.

Paige tentatively raised her hand.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy, Phoebe, Piper and Paige orbed into an underground cave.

"Okay, now what?" Phoebe asked as she noticed the sleeping bats.

"We draw out the Queen," Piper said.

"How?" Buffy wondered.

Piper started blasting the bats hanging from the ceiling, who screech and attacked them in return.

"Ok, uh ... get," Paige said as she ducked.

"Okay, ladies, a little bit of help here, please," Piper said.

Buffy and Paige waved their hands at the flying bats as they said simultaneously, "Bats!"

Four bats partially orb out as they're flying and smash into the other, exploding upon impact.

Phoebe threw a potion vial and hit a bat as it's flying, causing it to explode just as the Queen appeared.

"Who are you?" the Queen asked.

"Stop the attack before I kill you, too!" Buffy said.

"The Slayer!" the Queen said shocked to find the Slayer there. They had been lucky so far that they had never drawn the Slayer's attention like the other vampires had. "Cease!" All the bats obeyed and settle down on the ceiling of the cavern. "What do you want?"

"We're here," Buffy said, "to make a deal, your help in exchange for immunity from me."

"We have something in common," Piper added. "Neither one of us wants a certain demon to take over the underworld, right?"

"I'm listening," the Queen said.

"Well, if you help us stop him, you can keep the underworld in disarray like you guys like it, and we'll grant you immunity from us as well as from Buffy," Piper said. "We'll never come after your family again. And even better, you won't have to answer to Zankou. Interested?"

"Very," the Queen said.

"Okay, well, then follow us," Paige said as she, Buffy, Piper and Phoebe orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy, Paige, Piper and Phoebe orbed into the attic.

"What took you so long?" Zankou asked from where he sat at the table. He had been waiting for them.

"Where's the Queen?" Piper asked glancing at her sisters and Buffy.

"Oh, she betrayed you," Zankou said as he stood up. "I got to her first, she agreed to my terms with the promise I dealt with the Slayer as well. I knew you all were coming," he looked at Phoebe pointedly, "thanks to your premonition powers." Suddenly, he threw a potions vial at Piper's feet and a white cloud rose out of her and moved over to Zankou as he absorbed her powers. "And now I have yours."

Piper waved her hands and found she truly no longer had her powers anymore.

"Looking for this?" Zankou asked as he used Piper's own power against her and sent her flying backward to the other side of the attic.

"Unh!" Piper groaned as she crashed to the floor.

Buffy looked to Paige who nodded and orbed out with Phoebe. She ran to Piper and they orbed out as well.

Kahn who had been standing next to the table looked to Zankou. "Why didn't you kill them when you had the chance?" he asked.

"Because I don't have all their powers ... yet," Zankou said.

"I mean no disrespect but you also have made an enemy of the Slayer, who also is a witch and in love with the youngest of the Charmed Ones," Kahn reminded Zankou.

"I know," Zankou said with sigh. "I must tread carefully when it comes to her. But she will die, just as I promised the Queen."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy, Piper, Phoebe and Paige orbed into the Great Hall of Magic School to find Leo waiting for them. He could tell just by the looks on their faces and the wound on Piper that it didn't go as planned.

"Ow," Piper said as Buffy helped her over to the couch.

"It's okay, mom," Buffy said as Piper looked up at her. "Paige, she's needs healing."

Paige nodded as she knelt down and held her hands over Piper's wound and began healing her.

"Mom?" Piper asked, she noticed a smile on Leo's face and she smiled also. She may only have been fifteen years older than Buffy, but being called mom by her own step-daughter was very nice to hear none the less.

Buffy smiled and nodded. "It took a while for me to come to terms with that, but you are my mom, Piper. Just as my mom is my mom. I am just lucky to have the privelidge of having two moms."

Phoebe sighed. "Well, we're two powers down."

"Two powers?" Leo asked.

"He used a potion," Buffy said. "Looks like he stole Phoebe's powers and then just now mom's."

"Something tells me we're not getting out of this one, girls," Paige said. "And I'm going to be next."

"Unless he's got enough already to get in here," Phoebe said.

"Well, he has more access to the Book now, which means he might be able to figure out a way soon," Leo said.

"Well, we wanted him to come after us, right?" Paige asked. "Looks like we got our wish." She sighed. "Who are we kidding? We're screwed."

"Okay, well, if we're going down, we are not going down alone," Phoebe said.

"We can't think like that," Leo said.

"Leo, I mean, come on," Phoebe argued. "Let's be real. It's over. He's got our house, he's got our Book, he's got two of our powers. Shoot the Queen made a deal with him and he's now gunning for Buffy as well. The only real question is whether or not we could take him down with us."

"I can't believe we're even having this conversation," Buffy said with a sigh.

"Yeah," Piper said. "Well, believe it, sweetie. I'm sorry." She looked at her sisters. "So how do we do it?"

"We've got to get that spell from the Book, the one that destroys The Nexus," Phoebe said.

"And how is that gonna destroy Zankou?" Leo wondered.

"We let The Nexus take in Zankou first and then cast the spell - hit two birds with one stone," Phoebe said.

"Don't you mean five?" Piper asked. "We're gonna have to be in there to say the spell."

"Can't you just say it from here?" Buffy asked, concern flooded her voice. These were people she was talking about. She didn't want them to die.

"Not and get the timing right, no," Phoebe said with a sigh.

"Well, it's been nice knowing you ladies," Paige said.

Suddenly, there's a loud explosion from outside the ceiling and a grunt of pain. Everyone looked up and around.

"What was that?" Leo wondered.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Zankou yelled as he flamed into the attic of the Manor and crashed to the floor with a thud. "Ugh! So close."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Outside the home of Darryl Morris, Darryl, Sheila and their two sons exited out the front door.

"Hold hands. Hold hands," Sheila told her sons.

"Why are you running?" Darryl asked as they all laughed and smiled.

Suddenly behind them Leo and Buffy orbed in.

"Darryl!" Leo said.

"Oh. Leo," Darryl said as he spun to face father and daughter. "This must be Buffy?"

"Hi, I'm Buffy," Buffy said. "Sorry we orbed in unexpected. Dad needed to talk to you."

"Listen I am done talking," Darryl said.

"It's not just about the girls," Leo interrupted. "It's about Sheridan."

Darryl looked at his wife for a moment before looking back at Darryl . "What about Sheridan?"

"I know she's investigating the girls, but whatever you do, you've got keep her away from the house. Something big is gonna go down soon."

"Are they okay?" Darryl asked as he and Sheila both noticed the worried look on both father and daughter's faces.

"What is it?" Sheila asked.

"Look, I know you're stuck in the middle of this, and for that, I'm sorry, but we need you to keep them away from the house until this is over, for Sheridan's sake, for everybody's sake. I gotta go. Take care," Leo said as he walked off.

Darryl watched Leo walk away and then looked at Buffy.

"I'm going to abide by your decision," Buffy said, "and not say too much. But mom, you know Piper, Phoebe and Paige may not walk out of this alive. I am about to lose the family I love so dearly and only met a couple months ago." She then orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Across town Victor Bennett stepped inside his apartment carrying a package of groceries.

Suddenly, two women run out of the darkness, grab him and throw him over to the couch.

"Hey! What the - uhh!: he said as he found himself facing two leather clad women - one dark-haired, the other blonde. Neither one recognizeable. "What the hell's goin' on? Who are you?"

"Who are you?" one of the women asked as she kicked the couch for him to answer.

"She asked you a question," the other woman added.

"Victor," Victor said. "Victor Bennett."

"Do you think it's really him?" one of the women asked the other.

"If it was Zankou, he would have attacked us by now."

The dark-haired woman snapped her fingers and white orb lights swirl around the two and they change into Phoebe and Piper.

"What?" Victor asked confused.

"Sorry, dad," Phoebe said. "It was the only way we could be sure."

"And we didn't want Zankou to know we were coming," Piper said.

"Zankou?" Victor asked. "Who is Zankou?"

"Long story," Phoebe said as she turned on the lights. "It's safe!"

Paige orbed in carrying Chris and holding Wyatt's hand. "Hey."

"What the hell is going on?" Victor asked just as Buffy orbed in next to Paige, Wyatt and Chris.

Piper walked over to Wyatt. "Thank you, sweetie," she said as she took an envelope from her eldest son.

"Is the guest bedroom that way?" Paige asked motioning toward the hall.

"Uh, yeah," Victor said.

"Come on, baby," Paige said as she took Wyatt and Chris into the guest bedroom leaving Buffy, Piper and Phoebe with Victor.

"Hi," Buffy said. "I'm Buffy, I'm Leo's daughter and Piper's step-daughter."

"Uh, hi," Victor said.

"Look, dad, we're running out of time," Phoebe said as she sat down on the arm rest of the couch. "And there's no gentle way to break this to you, so I'm just gonna say it. We're in some serious trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" Victor asked.

"The kind of trouble we can't get out of," Piper replied as she knelt down in front of her father. "

In here is the deed to P3 and the house already signed, our bank accounts, power of attorney, the schedule for the boys and our Wills."

"Hold on. What are you talking about? I'm not gonna take that," Victor said staring at the envelope.

"Dad, you have to," Phoebe said. "We need you to. You're all we have. Well you and Buffy."

"We can't explain everything right now," Piper said. "You just need to know this is our only way out. It's our only choice. Please, for them?"

"I don't understand," Victor said. "Are you saying I'm never gonna see you again?"

"No," Phoebe said as she hugged Victor. "Never say never. Not in this family."

"Now, dad," Piper said. "In my Will is an addendum. Upon Buffy's eighteenth birthday she gets guardianship of her brothers and ownership of the house and on her twenty-first she gets ownership of P3. She will have it harder than you. She just found out a couple months ago that Leo was her father and that she had two younger brothers. She needs this, okay? She needs to be reminded of what she's fighting for."

Victor looked to Buffy and nodded.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige sat in the guest bedroom with Wyatt and Chris as Phoebe, Buffy and Piper walked into the room.

"Hey," Piper said.

"Hey. How'd it go?" Paige wondered.

"You mean other than giving me guardianship of Wyatt and Chris and my getting the manor when I turn eighteen and P3 when I turn twenty-one?" Buffy asked with a sigh. "Peachy with a side of keen."

Paige sighed as she handed Chris to Phoebe and walked over to Buffy. She looked at her sisters. "You didn't tell her?"

"Not yet," Piper replied. "Didn't have a chance."

"We think we have a way to vanquish Zankou and keep us alive as well," Paige said as she looked at her girlfriend. "But it would mean appearing dead to the world to do so."

"So the Will, the deeds and Wyatt and Chris's guardianship?" Buffy asked.

"Are all in my Will for real, honey," Piper said. "If this doesn't work out, what I said to dad out there is true. You need something to fight for in light of losing all of us. If it does work out, dad is not going to be around forever and as he gets older from a legal standpoint you would have to watch over your brothers. Even though in reality your dad and I will watch out for your brothers."

"I assume to make your lives simpler," Buffy said. "That you have a plan for faking dad's death as well?"

"We do," Phoebe said. "We have to go, you guys."

"Okay," Piper said as she took Buffy's hand and Paige took Phoebe's and the all orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Okay, we only have one shot at this. We can't miss," Phoebe said after they had orbed back to Magic School.

"First we've gotta get to the Book, and convince it we still believe in ourselves," Piper replied.

"Well, we do, don't we?" Paige asked.

"Absolutely," Phoebe said.

"Just feels kind of strange, you know, doing it this way," Piper said as she glanced toward Buffy who sat on the other side of the room. She didn't blame her step-daughter for wanting some time to herself.

"Well, I kinda wish we'd learned how to do it earlier," Paige said. "Would've come in handy."

"Well, Prue was really protective of it," Piper said. "I'm just glad she showed Leo how to do it."

Just at that moment Zankou flamed. So this is Magic School. How quaint," he said as he looked around.

"What took you so long?" Piper asked.

Zankou smiled. "Patience is a virtue. I can't even begin to tell you how long I've been looking forward to this moment, a moment no demon has ever enjoyed ... until now." He held out his hand, palm up and an energy ball formed.

"Book!" Paige said as Phoebe and Piper began to run. A book orbed off the table and orben in hitting Zankou causing him to drop the energy ball.

As the energy ball hit the wall near the door he noticed everyone was gone. "Must we go through this?" He turned and chased after the girls.

Buffy, Piper, Phoebe and Paige ran into the Great Hall where they scatter. Zankou was not far behind. He threw an energy ball at Buffy and it exploded against the desk she ran behind. He threw another energy ball at Phoebe who hid behind a line of chairs. It hit the center of a chair, missing her as she moved.

Paige ran past the pillar just as Zankou threw an energy ball at her. She ducked and hit a couch.

"Paige!" Piper said as she ducked behind another row of chairs. "Get out of here."

"No," Paige said. "Not without you two and Buffy."

"Inseparable to the end. But first things first," Zankou said as he threw a potion at Paige as the vial broke nothing happened.

Paige smiled and then disappeared.

Zankou looked down at his hand wondering why the potion had failed to work. "What's happening?" He turned around and looked at Piper who vanished. He looked to Phoebe who vanished as well. "What?" He looked to Buffy.

Buffy smiled. "You see," she said, "Phoebe was not the only one with a premonition power. Once they told me their plan all I had to do was get a premonition and find out the best way to do it." She too then vanished.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The girls gasped as their astral forms returned to their bodies. "Ah, astral projecting worked," Paige said.

"Thank you, Prue," Piper said.

"The Book," Phoebe said as they rushed upstairs to the attic.

"I'll keep watch for the demons and Zankou. Hurry and do what you need to," Buffy said.

"Okay," Phoebe said. "This may be the last time we have to say this." She and her sister gathered around the book holding hands as they chanted together. "The power of three will set us free. The power of three will set us free. The power of three will set us free."

They let go of each other and touch the Book. Nothing happened.

Piper opened the book and looked through it just as Buffy's Slayer hearing picked up something from outside.

"Mom?" Buffy said as she glanced at Piper. "I think your time is running out. Sounds like police sirens."

Piper closed the Book and picked it up as she, Phoebe and Paige walked over to the attic window. As they looked outside they saw police cars pull up outside the Manor.

"What the hell happened?" Paige wondered.

"I don't know," Phoebe said. "But if they come in here before we get Zankou, it's gonna be a blood bath."

"Come on, we gotta find that spell," Piper said just as Zankou flamed in between them and Buffy.

"I underestimated you four," he said. "It won't happen again." He threw an energy ball at the sisters as Paige orbed them out. He turned and looked at Buffy who orbed out as well.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Outside the fireball broke through the roof as officers and other police personnel gasped.

"What the hell was that?" someone asked.

"It's probably the same thing that got Sheridan," said Agent Keyes, an agent with Homeland Security. He didn't notice as Buffy orbed in behind a bush. "All right, everybody, listen up. On my command, we storm the place. Everybody in

position."

"I wouldn't go in just yet if I were you," Darryl said as he walked up next to Keyes.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Piper, Phoebe and Paige held hands in front of a hole in the basement floor as Zankou flamed in. "Natum adai necral ..." they chanted.

Zankou waved his hands and pushed Piper, Phoebe and Paige away from the hole. They crash into the wall on the other side of the basement. He stepped down from the stairs and closer to the hole. "Too late. You can't take The Nexus. It has been in me. It knows me now. I should've done this before." He turned his back to them and started chanting. "Natum adai necral. Daya intay layok."

The Shadow rose out of the hole and approached Zankou and then entered him through his eyes. When he turned to face them they saw his eyes were solid black. "You can't stop me now."

"No? Watch us," Paige said as she took a spell out of her pocket and she and her sisters read from it. "From ancient time, this power came, for all to have, but none to reign."

"No!" Zankou shouted as he felt something building up within him.

"Take it now, show no mercy. For this power can no longer be."

Zankou turned red, unable to control what was happened as the Shadow was destroyed from within him. He screamed and then he exploded as he was vanquished.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Outside everyone watched as the basement exploded and white smoke billowed and dissipated around the house.

"Holy ... God ..." Keyes said.

"Aren't you glad I told you to wait?" Darryl asked.

From where Buffy stood she watched as Keyes ordered his men to go in and then he and Darryl entered the house as well. She watched as a crowd gathered outside and then she spotted her dad approaching the crowd. She ran over to him and pulled him back to the bush. "Stay here," she said. "Piper, Phoebe and Paige will be along in a minute. It's part of their plan."

She moved away from her father and toward the crowd. "Let me through," she said. "I gotta get through. Let me through."

"Hey!" an officer said as he stopped Buffy from going further. "Where do you think you're going?"

"My step-mom and dad were in that house," Buffy said.

"You got any I.D.?" the officer asked.

"No," Buffy said. "I'm only sixteen my mom won't even let me take the driving test. And second the name that would be on the I.D. would not show my birth father's name. It would show my adoptive father's name. So it wouldn't help you …"

Just then Darryl walked out the front door with Keyes. "Buffy," he said spotting her. "It's alright officer, let her pass."

The officer let Buffy pass and she ran up to Darryl, "Mom and Dad?" she asked.

"Who is this?" Keyes asked.

"Leo Wyatt's daughter," Darryl said to Keyes, "and Piper Halliwell's step-daughter, Buffy." He looked to Buffy. "Was Leo with Piper?"

Buffy nodded. "Yes," she said. "Where are they?"

"I am sorry to inform you," Keyes said, "that it appears that both your step-mom as well as your father died in an explosion in the basement."


	34. Chapter 34: Still Charmed & Kicking Pt 1

**Chapter 34: Still Charmed & Kicking Part 1**

Buffy stood beside Victor as they talked to the mourners that had come to pay their respects to Piper, Phoebe and Paige. She looked over at her sister and mother who stood before a table for Piper.

"I really appreciate you saying that," Victor said to a man who stood in front of him and Buffy. "Means a lot that you guys came by. Thank you so much."

"Victor," another man said.

"Hey," Victor said as he shook the man's hand. "Thank you for coming by, I really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you."

Victor looked to Buffy and smiled. Even though she physically wasn't his granddaughter, since she was Leo's daughter. He had come in the space of a week to think of her as such.

"Pretty good turn-out, huh?" said woman as she walked up to Victor and Buffy.

Buffy sighed as she glanced at the woman and lowered her voice to a whisper, "Mom?"

"Yes," Piper replied.

"I can't believe how many leprechauns are at my urn," a woman said as she walked up to them.

"Paige?" Victor asked.

"No, I'm Phoebe, Dad," Phoebe said.

"They always had the hots for ya," Piper told Phoebe about the leprechauns.

"It's kind of creepy, but I guess you can't be too picky when you're dead," Phoebe replied.

Victor sighed. "Hey, you guys are driving me crazy, you know that?"

"Keep your voice down, will ya?" Piper said as she looked at her father and step-daughter. "And you both need to look a little more bereaved, like Joyce and Dawn are. Agent Keyes is watching."

"For mom and Dawn," Buffy said. "It's because they don't know yet. I didn't get around to telling them before they heard on the news you guys were dead. I'll tell them later after everyone leaves."

"Regardless," Phoebe said, "he'll never figure us out. How could he?"

"Hey, I still can't figure it out," Victor said as he looked to Buffy. "How can you?"

"Their voices, the glamour doesn't change how they sound just how they look," Buffy replied.

"Anyways," Piper said, "at least we're alive, and, more importantly, free."

"Yeah, but do you have to keep changing your looks all the time?" Victor asked. "I mean, just pick one and stick with it, would you?"

"Why?" Phoebe wondered. "It's fun."

Piper sighed as she looked at Buffy. "Poor Paige. Other than Xander, Willow, you, your mom and Dawn there haven't been a lot of people at her urn."

"I know," Buffy said with a sigh. "I wonder where she is. Have either of you seen her?"

"Excuse me."

Buffy frowned as she watched Janice Dickinson walk toward Paige's urn. Her Whitelighter senses were telling her that was Paige.

"Excuse me," _Janice_ said as she pushed her way between a man and a woman in the foyer. She sauntered past Buffy, Phoebe, Victor and Piper.

"Whoa," Phoebe said. "What's Janice Dickinson doing here?"

 _Janice_ walked up to Paige's table. "Oh, Paige."

"Because it's not Janice Dickinson," Buffy said. She moved over to _Janice_. "Can I see you for a moment, Ms. Dickinson, in private?"

"Excuse me!" _Janice_ said as Buffy led her into the kitchen. "What are you doing?! What is the meaning of this? Do you have any idea who I am?"

"Paige," Buffy said Piper and Phoebe joined her and _Janice_. "Dispel the glamour. You can't fool me remember. While you hid yourself from the Elders, you didn't hide yourself from me, your girlfriend, remember?"

 _Janice_ sighed. "Oh, all right then. Fine," she said as white orb lights swirled around her to reveal Paige as more white orb lights swirled around Phoebe and Piper to reveal their real appearances. "No offense to you, your mom, Xander, Dawn or Willow, but I needed more people to cry at my funeral, didn't I?"

"We were supposed to keep a low profile," Piper said. "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that I obviously spent too much time in the magical world because only my girlfriend, my charges and Willow and Xander seemed to care that I'm dead. Even Giles didn't show up."

"Giles sent the flowers," Buffy said. "He's in England giving a report to the Council. That's why he couldn't make it."

"There was also your friend Glenn," Piper said.

"Yeah," Phoebe said in agreement, "Glenn was at your urn, and Ruthy our neighbor."

Piper shook her head. "No, she was just going to get coffee."

"Oh, really?" Phoebe said surprised.

Paige sighed. "My point exactly."

Just then, a man walked into the kitchen.

Phoebe gasped as he looked at them. "Oh, my God."

"We can explain. It's, um ..." Paige said.

Buffy laughed. "It's just dad."

White orb light surround the man to reveal Leo.

Phoebe let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, you scared me. I thought we were busted."

"Well, you are gonna be if you don't change back," Leo said. "What are you doing?"

"Paige," Buffy said, "is having an identity crisis."

"Oh, so it's okay for Piper to change your father into –" Paige said before frowning. "Buffy, I need you to check on your mom and Dawn."

"Why?" Piper wondered.

"Someone is calling for me," Paige said.

"Okay I'll be right back," Buffy said as she walked back into the conservatory and over to her mom and Dawn. She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Are either of you calling for Paige?"

"What?" Dawn practically shouted as several people looked at her.

"Dawn, lower you voice," Buffy whispered. "Paige is alive, okay. So are Piper, Phoebe and Leo. I didn't get a chance to tell either of you before you got here. And before either of you say anything this is their way of quitting. Now the reason I asked is because Paige said she was getting a call from someone."

"No," Joyce said, "since both of us believed Paige was dead till this moment, we had no reason to be calling for her."

"Okay," Buffy said as she returned to the kitchen followed by Joyce and Dawn.

Dawn smiled and hugged Paige.

"Finally told them," Buffy said.

"I'm not going to say anything about quitting," Joyce said. "Since when Paige found us; I had long since quit and mine, Buffy and Dawn's powers were bound. Paige, neither Dawn nor I were calling for you."

"So," Paige said with a sigh. "Who could it be?"

"Does that mean the Elders know she's alive?" Phoebe wondered.

"No, they can't," Piper said. "We cloaked ourselves from them."

"It could be a new charge," Leo said. "You know, a connection to one's Whitelighter is automatic, just like it was when Paige became Buffy and Dawn's."

Paige rolled her eyes.

"Okay, well, just ignore it," Piper said.

"Easy for you to say," Paige said. "You are not half Whitelighter, okay? Maybe it's one of the mourners."

Piper shook her head vigorously.

"Could be a demon out there," Paige said as she was about to rush toward the door.

"Paige," Buffy said grabbing her girlfriend's arm. "I think I would have sensed a demon if there was one."

"It makes sense though, doesn't it?" Paige asked. "I mean, they'd probably want to find out if we're really dead."

"It shouldn't matter," Joyce said. "You quit, if you really want a life without demons. You need to quit looking for demons."

"She's right," Piper agreed. "You're just gonna have to forget about it."

"Not so easy with the jingle jangle," Paige said with a sigh.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the sitting room Paul Haas walked up to Victor. "You must be devastated, Mr. Bennett," he said.

"Yeah," Victor replied.

"Especially considering how it happened. Was there ever an official cause of death?"

"Excuse me?" Victor said as a frown found its way to his face.

"Uh," Paul Haas said with a smile. "Forgive me for prying. It's just that the news always made it sound so mysterious. And with no remains ..."

"I'm sorry. I didn't get your name."

"Haas," Paul Haas said. "Paul Haas."

"And you knew my daughters how?" Victor asked. He knew that while Paige was not biologically his, he had come in the last three years to love her as if she were.

"By reputation. Tell me, did the police ever find your son-in-law by any chance? Leo?"

Victor shook his head. "No, they think he died in the accident as well."

"And now you have to raise those boys all by yourself ..." Paul Haas said as Victor nodded, "… in this huge house. If you find that you need to sell it, though, let me know. I'd be glad to help." He gave Victor a business card.

"You're a real estate agent?" Victor asked glancing at the card.

"I specialize in the moving of problem properties," Paul Haas answered. "You know, where people have died. Buyers tend to be a little queasy."

"First off," Victor answered, "the house, the club as well as the guardianship of my grandsons is held in trust for my granddaughter for when she turns eighteen in a year and a half. Second of all … Get out." He gave Paul Haas back the card.

"Again ... my condolences," Paul Haas said and he turned and walked away.

Victor sighed heavily and shook his head.

An hour later after all the mourners had left Wyatt could be heard crying.

"It's okay, sweetie," Piper said as she walked over to Wyatt. "Mommy's right here."

Wyatt looked sadly at Piper not recognizing her as she knelt down next to him.

"Wyatt, honey, what's the matter?" Piper asked.

"Mom," Buffy said as Joyce smiled at her, "he doesn't know it's you."

"Buffy's, right," Victor said in agreement as Piper stood up.

"It's okay, buddy, all right?" Leo said as he, Paige and Dawn walked over. Both he and Paige had dispelled their glamours. "Daddy's here, okay? We're all here."

White orb lights swirled around Piper and Phoebe as they dispelled their glamours.

"Mama," Wyatt said as he finally recognized Piper.

"Okay? See?" Leo said.

"Poor little guy," Phoebe said. "He's confused."

"He doesn't know what's going on," Joyce said, "neither does Chris."

"All this changing makes them nervous, I think," Victor added.

"Yeah, maybe you guys didn't exactly think this thing through," Dawn suggested.

"We didn't have time to think it through," Piper said with a sigh.

"Well, it's too late to go back now, so what do we do?" Leo asked.

"I believe there is a spell in the Book," Joyce said. "That may just solve this problem." She led them up to the attic.

Phoebe walked over to a trunk and pulled out the Book. She handed it to Joyce who set it on the pedestal.

Piper sighed. "Joyce, the more magic we use ..."

"I know," Joyce replied, "the bigger the chance demons will find out you are still alive. But I think this is a case of you need this spell to solve your problem of not being recognized by your own sons, let alone the rest of your family."

"Why?" Leo asked. "What'll it do?"

"End your confusion. All you will need to do is come up with one look, one disguise that you want to project to the rest of the world."

"You mean like a permanent permanent one?" Paige asked.

Joyce nodded. "Exactly."

"Now, how is that gonna end the confusion, especially for the boys?" Victor wondered.

"The way the spell is worded only family will see their true appearance," Joyce said. "Dawn and I will be the only ones in this room excluded from that. Buffy being Leo's daughter would still qualify."

"You and Dawn are considered family, Joyce," Piper said.

"Piper is right, Joyce," Leo said. "You are family."

"Okay," Joyce said as she looked to the sisters. "Do you have a look in mind?"

Paige closed her eyes and nodded.

"Yeah, you know what?" Piper said. "Nothing flashy, either."

"Okay, ready?" Joyce asked. She turned the book to face the sisters. "One of you has to read it."

"I call upon the ancient powers," Phoebe chanted as she read from the Book, "to mask us now and in future hours. Hide us well and thoroughly, but not from those we call family."

Paige looked at her hands wondering if it worked.

"Well, anything happen?" Victor asked.

"Do we look the same?" Phoebe wondered.

Dawn nodded. "Yeah."

"Maybe it didn't work," Leo said.

Joyce smiled as she motioned toward the mirror. "The only way to tell is to see what is reflected. If it worked the glamour that anyone not in this room and not called family will see what is reflected in the mirror."

Phoebe, Paige, Leo and Piper turned and looked at their reflection in the mirror, seeing that the spell had indeed worked.

"It definitely worked," Phoebe said.

"Oh, my goodness, is that me?" Paige asked.

"Is it the you that you envisioned?" Joyce asked.

Paige nodded as she glanced at Piper. "Hey, I thought you said no flash!"

"It was the first look that came to mind," Piper said as they looked at the blonde woman that was Piper's reflection.

"I like it," Leo said.

"I like Paige's," Buffy said as she moved over to Paige and wrapped her arms around her.

"You know, this just might work," Piper said.

Suddenly Paige frowned.

"Paige?" Buffy said.

"Someone is calling for me again," Paige said. "Do you think this means something bad is gonna

happen?"


	35. Chapter 35: Still Charmed & Kicking Pt 2

**Chapter 35: Still Charmed & Kicking Part 2**

Buffy watched as Piper, Phoebe, Paige and Leo sat around the scrying table in the attic writing on slips of paper.

Joyce, Victor and Dawn had all gone out to eat. It turned out that Victor and Joyce had known each other, in fact it had been Victor who introduced Joyce to Patty before he knew either of them had been witches.

As Piper, Paige and Leo finished writing on their slips of paper, Phoebe began gathering them up.

"Okay," Phoebe said as she grabbed Paige's.

"Hey, I'm not done," Paige argued.

"Doesn't matter. You are now," Phoebe said as she walked over to the potions table. "It's an identity, not a novel. As long as these reflect who we're trying to be, and where we've come from, we're all good." She looked at the slips. "Okay, Julie, nice. Jo, Jenny ... Louis?"

"Louie," Leo said. "You know, like Louie Armstrong. You know, the great satchmo? The

trumpeter?"

"Yeah. I think dad used to listen to him," Piper said as she noticed Buffy laugh at the jab.

"Okay, if you can deal with it, so can the government," Phoebe said.

"I can deal with Jo," Buffy said.

Phoebe put the slips of paper into the potions pot and added a pinch of something. The potion exploded and a cloud of white smoke rose up. "Voila! New identities."

"Are you sure?" Paige asked.

"Only one way to find out," Phoebe said eagerly as she started for the attic door. "Let's go shopping!"

"No," Piper said.

"Yep. Come on."

Piper stood up to try and stop her sister. No. Wait. No," she said as she, Paige and Buffy followed Phoebe down the stairs.

"Come on!" Phoebe said. "We have seven years of lost time to make up for. We have to start somewhere."

"Uh, yeah, I know, but ..." Piper said hesitantly.

"No buts. We are free," Phoebe argued. "Do you have any idea what that means? It means no more demons, no more cops. We can do whatever we want."

Piper glanced at Buffy with a sigh. It was what she wanted. Time to do whatever she wanted with her sons, with her husband, with her own step-daughter. "I know. I know, but still ..."

"Would you please talk some sense into this woman?" Phoebe asked looked at Paige and Buffy.

"You know what occurred to me - that real estate agent your dad was talking about?" Paige said. "If ya think about it, he may be a ..."

"Oh, my God!" Phoebe said nearly shouting. "If you say the _D_ word, I might implode."

"Well it is possible, Phoebe," Buffy said. "Think about it. They will want to know you are dead. That the house is vulnerable, that Wyatt, Chris and I are vulnerable."

Phoebe sighed. "Come on, you guys, what's wrong? Besides Buffy's valid point. "I mean, isn't this what we wanted?"

"Yes. It's just - it's not as simple as I had hoped, that's all," Piper said.

"You know why?" Phoebe said. "Because you haven't been out yet, and you will feel so much better in a new pair of shoes."

"I don't need new shoes," Piper said.

"Mom," Buffy said. "Let me treat you to a pair of shoes. Your talking to the shopping queen of Hemery High."

"Also can't we just at least try to have fun?" Phoebe asked. "Don't we owe ourselves that much?"

"Yes, we do ..." Piper agreed.

"That's the spirit. Paige? I mean, 'Jo'? Your shoes are on me."

"Um, I may just stay here and relax a little," Paige said.

"Relax. I like it. Relax," Phoebe said.

"Would you like me …" Buffy started to say.

"No go on, get those shoes for Piper," Paige said. "You and I can do something later."

"If you're sure."

"Come on," Phoebe said as Paige nodded. She took Piper and Buffy and pulled them down the stairs.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Sometime later Paige sat in the attic talking to Grams. "Piper has Leo. Piper has the boys. Piper even has my girlfriend, buying her shoes. What do I have? I have a giant, sucking hole of nothingness," she said with a sigh.

"Oh, please, Paige, spare me the dramatics and cut to the chase, will you? I've got an afterlife to live, you know," Grams replied.

"See? Even you have a life, and you're dead. I just don't know where to start," Paige said as she sat down.

"Well, you know, it's not like anybody asked for my opinion before abandoning the Charmed legacy in the first place."

"Thanks, Grams," Paige said sarcastically. "I'm so glad you came. You've been a great help."

"Look, honey, I'm - I'm sorry, but you're the one who - who got yourself into this mess, not me," Grams said.

"I didn't have a choice, okay? We didn't have a choice. We were going to die the real way."

"I understand, and I'm not judging you," Grams said. "Well, maybe I am a little, but - but my point is that you've made a choice whether you were forced into it or not, and you've gotta live with that choice, whether you like it or not."

"What if I can't?" Paige wondered.

"Oh, that's ridiculous."

"No, it's not. I ... I want a life outside of magic," Paige said. "I really do, but ..."

"But what?" Grams wondered.

"But it's the jingling, okay?" Paige said. "I hear it night and day, which means that someone other than Joyce, Dawn or Buffy is constantly calling for my help."

"That is just the Whitelighter in you."

"But that's still me, Grams, and that's still magic. So what if I can't ever really get away from it?"

"Well ... one thing is for sure, young lady," Grams said as she stood up. "You're

never gonna find what you're looking for sitting around here. You want a fresh

start? Then pull yourself up by your bootstraps, get out into the world and try

it on for size. See what happens."

"I don't know."

"Hey, you don't want my advice, don't conjure me next time. Now get up," Grams said as she took Paige's hands and pulled her up. "Get a grip, and don't come back until you find your thrill! Now go! And btw maybe you should start with Buffy. One thing I heard a lot is the subtext. You love her don't you?"

"Yes," Paige said, "of course I do."

"Maybe that explains this?" Grams said as she held up the driver's license that showed 'Jo's' picture. "Look at the age?"

Paige's eyes went wide. "17? I don't remember when we …"

"You must have," Grams said. "Unconsciously you gave yourself a way to be with her."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy, Piper and Phoebe exited a shoes, their arms were full of shoe box bags. Even though Buffy had said she was going to buy a pair of shoes for Piper, she wound up borrowing money from Phoebe to buy the shoes Piper had wanted.

"Unh! He was not hitting on me," Piper said.

"He was, too. He was practically drooling on you," Phoebe said.

"Okay, first, I'm married," Piper objected. "Secondly, he's a salesman in a women's shoe store. What are the chances he's not gay?"

"Who cares?" Phoebe smiled. "Just enjoy. That's our new mantra, right?"

Buffy smiled. "Ph … Jenny's right, Julie," she said in agreement.

Piper stopped and looked at her 'new' reflection in the store window. "Still, maybe Paige is right. I don't think this new look is me."

"I think you look hot," Buffy said. "I know if you weren't, you know who. I definitely would be interested."

Piper glanced at Buffy. "Easy, daughter of mine. Don't creep me out."

"Hey, Buffy's not your daughter and we're not sisters anymore, remember? We're all cousins, well all of us except Buffy since she is Leo's daughter. Or rather was." Phoebe reminded Piper.

Piper sighed. "Regardless of whose daughter Buffy is technically, it's still creepy," she said as they resumed walking down the sidewalk. "Isn't there any part of you that doubts your decision at all?"

Phoebe shook her head. "No, I mean, I like both pairs of shoes, so I bought both pairs of shoes."

"I don't think she means the shoes," Buffy said.

"Buffy's right. The pretending to be dead to the rest of the world."

"Oh, well, yeah, I mean, obviously there were certain aspects of my life that I really liked, but I couldn't fully enjoy it because of all the witch stuff," Phoebe said. "Which now that I think about it makes me appreciate why Joyce bound her own, Buffy and Dawn's powers when Buffy and Dawn were little."

"Yeah, but the witch stuff is who we are," Piper said. "I mean, we can't just walk around pretending we don't have powers anymore."

"You don't have to," Buffy said. "You can still teach Wyatt and Chris how to use theirs."

"We also don't have to use our powers every other week to save the world," Phoebe added.

Piper sighed. "What about the fact that the last three decades of our life are suddenly gone?"

"Well, we have to give up something to gain something. Look, you wanted a normal life more than all of us. Right? So what's changed all of a sudden?" Phoebe wondered.

"I'm a little neurotic. What do you want from me?" Piper wondered.

"That's not it," Buffy said.

"What else is it?" Phoebe said in agreement.

"It's just it's a big change, and I don't do change very well," Piper said. "Look how long it took you, Buffy, to call me mom."

"That was more because of me," Buffy said.

"That was also because of me," Piper said. "We both agreed at the time it would be weird." She looked at her sister. "So, just let me freak out for a little while and then, you know, I'm sure I'll be fine."

"Okay. You wanna go get our eyebrows plucked?" Phoebe asked.

"Gee, I'd love to, but, uh ... No, I gotta go check on P3 and make sure dad hasn't done a lot of damage," Piper said as she handed her packages to Phoebe. "Besides, how am I going to be able to give Buffy an allowance to give to you to pay for all these shoes?" She looked to Buffy. "Want to come along?"

Buffy looked up at the sky and then at Piper. "No, I'm getting a call from Pa … Jo."

"Okay," Piper said as she started across the street.

Buffy gave Phoebe her bags and then headed down a nearby alley and orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige sat at a sidewalk table drinking a cup of coffee waiting for Buffy to show up. She looked around at the people and caught her reflection in the glass window. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Buffy walking toward.

"So," Buffy said, "what's a beautiful girl sitting here all by herself?"

"Well, rub it in. Heh," Paige said with a small laugh.

"Paige?" Buffy said as she sat down. "Everything, okay?"

"Half and half," Paige replied. "On the one hand its just difficult with the new me. On the other hand it's not so difficult for you."

"What do you mean?" Buffy wondered.

Paige slid her driver's license across the table. "Look at my age. Or rather Jo's age."

"Seventeen?" Buffy asked shocked to see that Paige was now officially only a year older than she was.

"Yeah," Paige said.

"I'm sure you don't like the idea of going back to school," Buffy said. "But it is going to be nice to not have to sneak around with my girlfriend because she's ten years older."

Suddenly they both heard a woman scream; they turned and saw the woman struggling against a purse-snatcher. The purse-snatcher grabbed the woman's purse while pushing the woman away.

Automatically, Paige stood up and ran over to help as the purse-snatcher ran away.

"Paige?" Buffy said as she jumped up and ran after Paige as they chased the purse-snatcher.

They stopped at the sidewalk entrance to the subway where they saw the purse and its contents on the ground.

Paige looked around, disgusted with herself. "Damn it. Why didn't I orb?" she asked as she heard someone calling for her again. "Would you stop that, already? I give up." She turned and walked into a nearby alley followed by Buffy.

"Paige?" Buffy said again as Paige grabbed her hand and they orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In an old movie theatre, movie-goers watched a monster-movie matinee. In the back row, a demon sat down behind a large man holding a tub of popcorn and a drink.

On the movie screen, the monster appeared causing the man to gasp. The demon raised a glowing hand toward the movie goer and the man starts to gasp for breath.

Finally, the man stopped breathing, his head falling back against the seat.

Satisfied, the demon put his hand down and got up to walk over to the side just as Paige and Buffy orbed in. They immediately noticed the demon looking at them.

"Did you call for me?" Paige asked the demon.

"I don't think so. You don't have the power to stop me, Whitelighter," the demon said.

"You obviously don't know who I am ... which is probably a good thing," Paige said.

"She may not have the power, but I do," Buffy said as the demon using super-speed charged her, pushing her down into the aisle.

"Buffy!" Paige whispered as she watched the demon power up a fireball.

"Doesn't that burn your hand?"

The demon distracted by the sound of a woman's voice looked in that direction giving Buffy time to orb out and in next to Paige. He threw the fireball at the woman who jumped up and flipped over the fireball, which missed her completely. She landed on the arms of a theatre seat.

"Damn. I was hoping for such a better fight with my first demon," she said. "You are a demon, aren't you?"

The demon powered up a second fireball and hurls it at Billie. She raised her hand and the fireball swerved away from her and flew back to the demon. He jumped to the ground, just barely missing the fireball. He looked to the woman as she jumped off the armrest.

"Now help me out here. I'm new at this. Who pays for that?" the woman asked as the demon glanced at Buffy and Paige before shimmering out.

Billie turned and headed out of the theatre just as Paige and Buffy ran to catch her.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the kitchen of the manor Victor and Joyce were washing dishes as Dawn entered carrying more dirty plates. "Still a couple more loads out there," she said.

"You're kidding me," Victor said with a sigh.

"Why don't we get the girls to do a little hocus pocus, huh?" Victor asked as Dawn walked back out of the kitchen.

Joyce sighed. "No. And Dawn and I are not doing it either. If Paige, Piper and Phoebe truly want to live a life without magic, they have to get out of the habit of relying on it. Otherwise, they're never gonna have normal lives."

"Yeah, right," Victor scoffed. "Like that's ever gonna happen."

"It can, Victor," Joyce said. "Just like it did with me when Patty died."

"That was different though wasn't it," Victor said. "You bound, yours, Buffy and Dawn's powers. Still you came back to it when you found out that Buffy was called as the Slayer. And the girls will too. Being magical is part of who they are, just as it is a part of who you are. They may have been able to change your identities, but they can't change that."

"They'll do the best they can," Joyce replied.

"Yeah, but what if that's not good enough?" Victor asked. "I mean, I don't mean to sound pessimistic here, 'cause I really want this to work out ... but it's not gonna be easy ... especially for Leo and Piper as well as Paige and Buffy.

"Why especially for them?" Joyce wondered.

"'Cause Piper and Leo got the boys to raise like this, and Paige and Buffy have their relationship to consider. A relationship where Buffy is still a witch and a Slayer. She is still in the thick of it," Victor said.

Joyce sighed. "I know. And for what it's worth. I know how you feel. Remember I left this behind for Buffy and for Dawn. I didn't want them to go through what I went through with Patty. What Piper and Phoebe went through with Prue. I truly hope this works for them also."

Just then they heard someone orbing in behind them. They turned to see an Elder standing there.

"Whoa," Victor said.

"I mean either of you no harm, Victor, Joyce," the Elder said. "My name is Jonah. I'm an Elder, and I just

need to talk to you, Victor, all right?"

Victor nodded. "All right."

"Good. Now I know what you've gone through. What you still must be going through. Children should bury their fathers, not the other way around," Jonah said.

"What is it you want?" Joyce wondered.

"We've been talking."

"We?" Victor asked as he glanced at Joyce and then back at Jonas.

"The other Elders and myself about the boys, Wyatt and Chris losing their parents, their aunts," Jonah said. "It's unspeakable, especially considering who they were. Which is why we feel very strongly that it would be in the boys' best interest –"

"You're not taking them," Victor said flatly. "Forget it."

"Victor, you're mortal," Jonah said. "You can't possibly raise them to be –"

"First off," Joyce interrupted. "Victor is their grandfather. That's all he needs to be. Second of all, Piper and Leo's Will's stated that Buffy, Wyatt and Chris's sister, will gain guardianship of them when she turns eighteen. She will be the one raising them and with mine and Dawn's help, she will be able to teach them about their powers. And if Victor needs us to help protect them from evil, all he has to do is call. We'll orb here straight away."

Jonah sighed. He could see there would be no reasoning with either Joyce or Victor. "I pray you two know what you're doing," he said as he orbed out.


	36. Chapter 36: Still Charmed & Kicking Pt 3

**Chapter 36: Still Charmed & Kicking Part 3**

Paige led Buffy through the front door hoping that no one was around to see the gash on her girlfriend's shoulder blade. She didn't want to have to explain why Buffy had the gash to begin with.

"Hey, you two enjoy your date?" Dawn called out. Buffy and Paige turned and saw that she and Leo were standing in the dining room holding a pile of dishes.

"Yeah," Paige said as she turned and pushed Buffy toward the stairs. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Leo frown.

"Hey, whoa," he said. "Buffy, you're bleeding. How did it happen?"

Paige let out a sigh.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Piper stood behind the bar at P3 checking on the status of the club on the computer. "One week," she muttered. "One lousy week. Are you kidding me? Barry Manilow? Dad, you booked Barry Manilow? What were you thinking?"

Piper heard the front door close and Dominic, one of the employees come down the stairs. "Hello?" he said when he saw her.

"Dominic, thank God you're here," Piper said. "Are these all the receipts for the last seven nights? Has everything been entered?"

"I'm sorry," Dominic said confused. "Who are you?"

"Uh ... I'm—I'm Julie—I mean, Jenny Bennett," Piper said remembering at the last minute that Phoebe was supposed to be Julie. "I'm, uh, Victor's cousin ... pfft—niece. I'm Victor's ... niece."

"Okay. So what are you doing with our computer?" he asked. "And how did you get the password?"

"Uh ... Uncle Victor gave it to me. Excuse me," Piper said as she reached down and removed the high heels that Buffy had gotten her and waved them at Dominic. "Uhh! "New shoes. They look a lot nicer than they feel."

"So you work here now?" Dominic asked.

Piper shook her head. "No, I'm just helping out a little, you know, 'cause Victor and Buffy asked me to help out."

Dominic thought about it for a moment. He knew that according to Piper's will the club was in trust for Buffy and that Victor was executor of Piper's estate till Buffy was 21, when she would get the club. Still that was also public knowledge for anyone who wished to do the research. "You wouldn't mind if I called them to verify that, would you?"

Piper shook her head. "No, not at all. Please. Knock your socks off."

"Okay," Dominic said as he walked into the office.

"Hello?" Piper said as she answered her cellphone a second later. "What? Wait. Wait. What? Leo, we're not supposed to have family emergencies anymore. We're done with that. What do you mean it has to do with Buffy and Paige? All right. Fine. I'm coming, but you need to come down here and find a way to save our financial butts."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige sat across from Buffy at the table in the attic scrying over a map as Piper and Phoebe walked through the attic door.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Piper asked.

"Leo told us you fought a demon?" Phoebe added.

Paige sighed as she glanced at Buffy. "I can explain."

"What is this?" Piper asked as she grabbed the scrying crystal from Paige. "What are you doing?"

"I am trying to find a girl," Paige responded.

"Okay, look, we have been through this, okay?" Phoebe said. "If anyone finds out we're alive, we're screwed. Also, Buffy, you need to make it appear that you are only here to protect your brothers. If demons think you're not going back to Sunnydale they'll flock there. Also …"

"Okay," Paige said. "Would you please just be quiet for a minute and let me explain? Thank you! First of all, Buffy did not intentionally engage a demon."

"Oh, don't say engage," Phoebe said as she noticed Piper, Paige and Buffy look at her. "Don't ask."

"Look, I kept getting a call from someone—and figured if I answered, that maybe, you know –"

"The only ones you are supposed to respond to now are Buffy, Dawn and Joyce. Not anyone else, not anymore," Piper said.

"I understand where Paige is coming from," Buffy said. "It would be like asking me to no longer be the Slayer. As much as I would love to give it up to be a normal teenage girl, I know that's not possible and knowing that someone could be calling for my help. I would have to respond, just as Paige did."

"We understand that, Buffy," Phoebe said. "But Paige has to, okay, we've had this conversation."

Paige sighed. "Buffy and I both know we have, but it's not that easy."

"Okay," Joyce said as she stepped into the attic. "Everybody calm down." She looked at Buffy. "Did you vanquish the demon?"

Buffy shook her head. "No."

"But on the bright side, he only recognized Buffy," Paige said.

"Which could be good or bad," Joyce said. "The one thing you all have to remember. Buffy is only supposed to be on call. That is to keep up pretenses that Victor can raise Wyatt and Chris by himself with no magical assist. And to make it look like Buffy is staying in Sunnydale when Victor doesn't need her help. If demons think she is moving here, they will flock to Sunnydale. Now Buffy, if you didn't vanquish the demon, what happened to it?"

Buffy shrugged as she looked at Paige.

"We don't know," Paige said. "This chick came along and scared him off."

"What chick?" Phoebe and Piper asked.

"We don't know," Buffy said. "But, she showed up right after we got there."

"Could she be a witch?" Joyce wondered. "Maybe your new charge that you've been hearing a call from? Think about it. You orb in and seconds later she appears. That's a pretty big coincidence."

"No, this girl definitely did not need my help," Paige said.

"Could have been a bad witch," Phoebe suggested.

"And if that's true, and she figures out who we are ..." Piper said. "Or worse yet she thinks Buffy is moving here …"

"She was after the demon," Buffy said. "I don't think she even identified me at all, nor was she interested in either me or Paige."

"She might have ID'd you, Buffy, and you just didn't know it. If she did that would be very bad like Joyce suggested!

"Oh, for crying out loud! Give them a break, will you?"

Joyce turned at the sound of the voice and saw Grams standing over in the corner. "Mrs. Halli…"

"We're both adults, Joyce," Grams said. "You can call me Penny."

"What are you doing here, Grams?" Phoebe wondered.

"Well, I'm trying to keep you from ganging up on Paige and Buffy, that's what," Grams said.

"Well, you're sort of dead, so this doesn't really concern you," Piper said.

"Actually it does," Joyce said. "Her legacy is at stake."

"Joyce is correct," Grams agreed.

"Oh, please I think we've paid our dues," Phoebe said.

"And neither Joyce nor I are saying that you haven't," Grams said. "You have every right to want to live normal, unencumbered lives, just as Joyce did when Patty died and she bound her own, Buffy and Dawn's powers. But just because you want to doesn't mean you can, just as Joyce found out."

"You're a little late with that speech," Piper said.

"Perhaps," Joyce said. "But not for Paige, am I right, Penny|?"

Grams nodded. "Joyce is correct. Whether or not you succeed remains to be seen, but you cannot deny that Paige is being called by someone other than Buffy, Dawn or Joyce," she said. She looked at Paige. "And you can't deny it, either."

Paige sighed as she heard another call. "You're right. I can't deny it."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Downstairs Dawn was on her way to the kitchen when she heard a voice coming from the foyer.

"Hello, Victor. Now, are you sure you don't want to sell?"

Suddenly, the front door burst open. Dawn peeked around the corner and saw a woman a little older than herself and Buffy walk through the doorway. She turned and rushed upstairs before anyone could see her and to the attic. "Buffy, what did your mysterious woman look like?" she asked.

"About our age, maybe a little older, about your height, black hair," Buffy said. "Why?"

"She's downstairs."

Just then, explosions sounded from downstairs.

"That doesn't sound good," Phoebe said.

Piper shook her head. "No, it doesn't!"

"Thank you for coming," Paige said gratefully to Grams. She turned and followed her sister, Joyce, Buffy and Dawn out the attic door and down the stairs.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Victor rushed past Joyce, Dawn, Buffy, Phoebe, Piper and Paige as they came down the stairs. "Hey!" he called over his shoulder. "Thank her for me, will ya?!"

Suddenly, a demon went flying backward through the air past the stairs and smashed into the wall before exploding into flames. They look downstairs in time to see another demon throw a fireball at Paige and Buffy's mysterious woman. She jumped up and flipped over the couch and over the fireball. She landed in front of the demon and whipped out an athame and stabbed him in the gut vanquishing him.

In the conservatory Paul Haas got to his feet. Phoebe pointed just as Buffy was about to orb out. Joyce grabbed her daughter's arm and shook her head. "We don't want you ID'd," she whispered, "by her."

"Behind you!" Paige shouted as the demon turned and looked at them.

The mystery woman threw her athame at Haas just as he flamed out. The athame flew right where he stood a second earlier and hit the conservatory door frame. She held out her hand and it flew back to her. As she tucked into her boot she looked at them. "Thanks."

"Show-off," Piper muttered as the mystery woman jumped over the couch and ran out the front door, disappearing into the night.

"Well, she can't be all bad. She said "thank you," Paige said as they stood up and walked down the stairs into the living room.

"We don't know what she is," Piper said with a sigh. "She didn't stick around long enough for us to ask."

"You got to admit, that was a nice flip, though," Phoebe said as Buffy nodded in agreement.

"Though to her knowledge we are all mortals," Joyce said. "So it surprises me she didn't care that we saw her use her powers."

"Yeah," Piper agreed. "What was up with that?"

"I think that's because she was tracking the first demon. I mean, he was the same one she was after before," Paige said.

"I also think she may be your new charge," Joyce said.

"Huh?" Paige said.

"What are you talking about, mom?" Buffy said equally as confused as Paige.

"It's the second time she's showed up right after you got a call, Paige," Joyce explained. "It'd be too much of a coincidence if she wasn't."

"Which means she probably knows who we are, and she could expose us," Piper said.

"I don't think so," Dawn suggested. "Before I came and got you guys. I saw her entrance. She was obviously after the demons. I believe she tracked them here. And from what I overheard the demons were after your father."

"I think Dawn might be right," Phoebe said. "And dad should be our main concern right now, not this ... Supergirl."

"I agree," Joyce said. "You need to send a message. A message that will keep them away from Victor. Otherwise the only other solution is that Buffy move to San Francisco for appearance sake. And we all know she has to keep up the appearance that she is in Sunnydale."

"Even if it risks exposing us," Paige said.

"Joyce is right," Piper said with a sigh. "The problem is we can't just vanquish the one demon. As Joyce said, we're gonna have to make some sort of a statement. Otherwise, what's to keep the

entire underworld from coming after dad again and again without Buffy here fulltime?"

"Well, here's our conundrum, people. How do we make a statement without letting them know it's us?" Paige wondered.

"I have an idea," Buffy said with a smile.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The front door of Victor's apartment opened and Victor walked through it. As he shut the door he reached over and switched on the lights.

"I knew you'd come home sooner or later," said Haas

"You again," Victor said as turned to look at Haas and the two demons that flanked him.

"Yep, me again ... and this time I know you're alone. Just out of curiosity, Victor, who are all those women at the house? Of course I recognized the Slayer, but the other five. If you tell me, I promise to make your death relatively painless."

"Gee, thanks," Victor said.

"Believe me, considering all the pain your daughters have caused over the years and your adopted granddaughter has caused since being called, that would be a gift. The women, who were they?"

"I, uh—I don't know who the one you all were fighting, "but, uh ... two of the others are Buffy's mother and sister. And the others are my nieces. They're moving in till Buffy turns eighteen."

"No, they're not," Haas said with a smirk. "I am."

Victor raised his eyebrows at them just as Buffy and Wyatt orbed in.

Haas laughed. "You've got to be kidding me, right? You think that they can stop us all? He's what two? And the Slayer won't even be here full time. She has …"

"Responsibilities in Sunnydale," Buffy finished for Haas. "True. But part of the thing about being the daughter of a Whitelighter is that I can orb here at a moment's notice. I don't have to move here to help out. But I'm not the only one protecting Grandpa Victor. Wyatt is after all twice blessed, which if I remember my dad's lessons, it makes him pretty powerful all on his own. So try it, I dare you."

Haas stared at Buffy and Wyatt. Suddenly, Wyatt pointed at Haas and slammed him back against the far wall.

One of the demons powered up a fireball and threw it at Buffy.

"Fireball!" Buffy said and the fireball orbed out and with a flick of her wrist she threw it back at the demon as it orbed in, vanquishing him.

Haas got up and threw an energy ball at Wyatt. Wyatt freezes the energy ball and then telekinetically moved second demon into it vanquishing him.

"Pass it along," Buffy said. "You've made an enemy of the Wyatt and Halliwell familes. Leave Grandpa Victor alone or I will move to San Francisco full time and make it my mission to hunt you down. And should you manage even in the slightest to take me out," she looked to Wyatt, "guess who will be taking my place. And believe me, my little brother will not be letting my death go unavenged."

Haas looked at Buffy and Wyatt and then flamed out.

Once gone, Wyatt smiled at Buffy and Victor, who returned the smile.

"Well, how'd it go?" Paige asked as she opened the door and walked in.

White orb lights swirl around Victor to reveal Phoebe as white orb lights swirl around Wyatt to reveal Piper.

"What do you think?" Phoebe asked looking at sisters and Buffy.

"I think it worked," Piper said. "I don't think he would have left unless he got the message."

"The question is will he deliver it?" Phoebe wondered.

"And will it stick?" added Paige.

"I think so," Buffy said. "From what you all have told me everyone in the underworld is afraid of Wyatt. And of course while they know demons and vampires would flock to Sunnydale, I don't think they want me to focus my attention on San Francisco either."

"So that's it?" Phoebe asked. "We can get back to our lives now?"

"Whatever those are," Paige said with a sigh.

"Well, one of them has wedding bells in them," Phoebe said.

"Huh?" Paige and Buffy said as they looked at each other in confusion.

"Later," Phoebe said.

"Okay," Paige and Buffy said.

"Well, just as long as we're still demon-free, that's all that matters," Piper said.

"Oh. Lookey, lookey who's finally come around," Phoebe said with a smile.

""I told you I just needed a little time and, you know, a very big reminder of what our lives used to constantly be like," Piper said. "Though now that I think about it, maybe we should have included you, Buffy."

"No," Buffy said. "It's appreciated, mom. But for one thing, there was a reason I didn't fake my death with you both. We had to keep up some pretenses for the demons. And second I do have, whether I like it or not, whether I'm ever going to be ready or not, responsibilities in Sunnydale. Maybe someday I will be ready to disappear, but not yet."

"Even though I would love for you to live a demon free life," Piper said. "I have to say I'm proud of you."

"We still have the little witch to contend with," Paige reminded them.

"No," Buffy said. "With you and me, yes. She's your charge. And I as your girlfriend, will stand beside you, remember?"

"Maybe you won't hear from her again," Phoebe said as they headed for the door.

"I have a feeling she'll be sticking around for a while," Paige said with a sigh.


End file.
